On the mischiefs of self-ignorance : and the benefits of self-acquaintance

h - .1

Theological Seminary,

PRINCETON, N.J. ^

. BX 5201 .Al B39 1828

Baxter, Richard.
'* On the mischiefs of self-
ignorance

. '

I

SELECT
CHRISTIAN AUTHORS,

WITH

{NTRODUCTORY ESSAYS.
N° 45,

Digitized by tine Internet Arclnive
in 2015

lnttps://arcliive.org/details/onmischiefsofseiOObaxt

' r WILLIAM CCLLINS GLASSOV

ON THE

MISCHIEFS

OF

SELF-IGNORANCE,

AND THE

BENEFITS

OF

SELF-ACQUAINTANCE.

RICHARD BAXTER.

WITH

AN INTRODUCTORr ESSAY,

BY THE

REV. DAVID YOUNG,

GLASGOW:
PRINTED FOR WILLIAM COLLINS;

WILLIAM WHYTE & CO. AND WILLIAM OLIPHANT, EDINBURGH ;
K. M. TIMS, AND WM. CUKRY, JUN. & CO. DUBLIN;
G. B. WHITTAKER, AND UAJIILTON, ADAilS, & CO. LONDON.

1828.

Pfinted by W. CotUui & Co.
Glasgow.

It is the sentiment of Pope, in his celebrated
ethical poem, that " the proper study of mankind is
man." We scarcely alter this sentiment by saying,
that the proper study of every individual man is
himself; and although no advantage were to be de-
rived from this department of research, we might
expect to see him drawn to it by an irrepressible
curiosity. Whatever be the origin of our being,
or the end for which it was given us, it must be
obvious to every one, that the phenomena which it
exhibits are pre-eminently interesting. The me-
chanism of our bodies, so complicated iu its parts,
and yet so exact in its adaptations, is confessedly a
specimen of exquisite skill; our capacities of thought
and rational activity, so restless and versatile, and
powerfully discursive, exalt us above the loftiest of
nature's material productions, and loudly proclaim
us the first of its wonders; while the singular con-
junction of mind with matter, of which our being
consists, invests us with a mysterious grandeur,
which is fitted to arrest the dullest intellect, and
awaken the roost intense inquiry. And when we

I

vi

add to these things, the consideration, that this is
the solitary instance among the creatures of earth,
in which the subject and the student are one and
the same; that man is the only being, here below,
•who is capable of examining and knowing himself;
that the singular assemblage of constituent proper-
ties, to which we have adverted, so opposite in its
elements, but so admirably assorted and harmonized,
is not separate from him, but his very self, the seat
of his living consciousness, and strictly identical with
all that he is, it seems necessary to infer, that this
branch of knowledge must take precedence of every
other, or, at the very least, that other knowledge
will be valued only in as far as it tends to reveal its
secrets, or unfold its physical and social relations.

Thus much might be expected from mere curi-
osity; but if we pass from these things to yet graver
matters, if we consider that this wonderful existence,
which we so fondly call ourselves, is, in all its parts,
the workmanship of God; that its elevation, on the
scale of being, has raised it up to responsibilities,
which renders it strictly accountable to him for all
its voluntary operations; that it is destined to con-
tinue for ever amidst felicities the most refined, or
sufferings the most painful, according to the moral
condition in which it enters the future state — that
the present life is the crisis of its destiny, where the
felicities of the future are to be lost or won, and
that to meet this crisis, in such a way as to secure
these felicities, the knowledge of ourselves and our
moral relations, is absolutely indispensable — if we
consider these things, and take so much as a general
survey of their character and importance, they raise

Vll

the expectation inconceivably higher, and seem as if
they would constrain us to conclude, if man be rea-
sonable at all, that, whatever other topics of research
may occasionally attract him, yet the history of his
own being, and circumstances, and prospects, is sure,
in every instance, to be thoroughly explored.

Such is the verdict of theory, as founded in rea-
son and enlightened self-love; but fact, alas! de-
plorably belies it. The phenomena of our nature are
sedulously studied, as topics of rational amusement,
or as ministering to the advancement of mere science,
whether physical or ethical, or from the sordid de-
sire of turning the many, to the supposed advantage
of the few, whose deeper secular sagacity, or daring
in sensual wickedness, may have given them the
ascendency. In this latter respect, especially, our
nature is eagerly studied, and extensively known.
Its powers and competencies, in body or in mind,
are industriously scanned, and correctly estimated ;
its likings and aversions are carefully ascertained,
and even its foibles, and weak points, are marked and
appreciated, all for the purpose of making it subser-
vient \o an ever-working and multiform selfishness.
Such is the kind of acquaintance with man, wliich
is actively cultivated, and highly extolled, by the
votaries of worldly wisdom: and were this the study
of which we speak, our task would be easily accom-
plished, for all that is talent or enterprise in the
busy world around us, is already in vigorous pursuit
of it. So far from leading man, however, to a just
and rational acquaintance with himself, it docs the
very reverse, it averts his attention from the proper
subject; for the habit of looking outward makes him

viii

forget to look inward : it leaves him little leisure,
and less inclination, for considering the origin and
end of his being ; it obliterates the contrast be-
tween what he ought to be, and what he is, and
thereby vitiates his moral feeling; it inures him to
that which is shadowy and perishing, till the spiritual
and vital are utterly forgotten.

But the knowledge of which we speak, has the
man's self for its object — his whole constitution,
corporeal and mental; the moral complexion, and
continued workings of the thinking principle within
him; the particular kinds of good or evil to which
he feels himself prompted, by inward moral bias,
or influence from without: the responsibilities by
which he is bound, as a reasonable being, under law
to the Author of all being; the favourable circum-
stances in which he is placed, by the tender mercy
of the God that made him, and the awfully solemn
inquiry whether he is, or is not, so improving these
circumstances, as to warrant the hope of a happy im-
mortality. These are a few of the leading topics,
which must of necessity be examined, before a man
can have any pretensions to the first and highest of
all acquirements — the knowledge of himself; for our
standing here is not isolated, but morally and spiri-
tually related, and it is impossible to explore the
mystery of our being, or to meet its duties and ad-
vantages, except in as far as its moral relations are
ascertained and appreciated. Situated as we are, it
is indispensable, that, in order to know ourselves, we
should know the God that made us; and the moral
constitution which he has given us; and the law
under which he has placed us; and the spiritual

ix

calamity which afflicts us; and the remedy which
God has provided for us ; and the duties which we
owe to that Hving community, in the midst of which
he has placed us. All these things enter vitally
into the exercise of self-inquiry ; and ignorance
of any one of these, or error about it, is sure to
involve a corresponding error in the use of Christian
privilege, or the practice of Christian duty.

It is this important consideration that we wish
the reader to carry along with him to the perusal of
the volume before us. We wish him, in short, to
see it as a truth, and to adopt it as a settled maxim,
that, to be he knows not what, as a moral and reli-
gious being, or to think himself to be what he is not,
on the one extreme or on the other, is to carry about
with him a state of mind, which is sure to mislead
his religious practice. If his eye be misguided,
when turned inward on his moral condition as a sin-
ner, it cannot but commit a corresponding error,
when turned outward on that dispensation of right-
eousness and love, which God has revealed for his
life and salvation; for the last is adapted to the first,
with a most amazing exactness, as the antidote to
the poison, or the remedy to the disease; and if a
man's views of his moral condition be deficient, or
exaggerated, or confused and inconsistent, the moral
harmony is destroyed, and he is constrained to regard
the Christian remedy as superfluous or inadequate,
or, in one respect or other, alien or inappropriate.
But if this be the effect of self-ignorance on the
formation of religious opinions, it must produce the
same effects on individual practice, for man feels as he
thinks, and acts as he feels, when not restrained by
A 3

X

circumstances, and no man will embrace the gospel,
which is the vital act of all religion, while he feels
a moral incongruity between his wants and its pro-
visions. He may respect the gospel, his conscience
may constrain him to admit its general excellence ;
he may wish it would appear to him as he believes
it does to others ; but he has not self-knowledge
enough, to enable him to embrace it. We plead
not for perfection in the knowledge of ourselves, in
order to a truly religious practice; for a man may be
ignorant of things about himself, which are more or
less remote from the essentials of religion, while
this ignorance may be quite compatible with his in-
terest in the Christian deliverance. Even in these
cases, however, the man is injured, although the
injury amounts not to absolute ruin; but if the lep-
rosy of bis ignorance — for it is, in fact, a dis-
ease— be so deep and pervasive, as to reach the
vital parts of that relation, in which he stands to the
universal moral Lawgiver, it is dangerous in the
extreme; throwing a moral impossibility between
him and the salvation of his soul, and convincing all
who can estimate his condition, that he must be
made to know himself, or perish for ever.

Reasonings of this kind invest the subject with
an overwhelming importance, and, alarmed at the
deadly injury which inattention to it is inflicting on
persons of all classes around us, we request the
reader gravely to ponder it in the three following
points of view : namely, as it bears on his conversion
from sin to godliness ; on the gradual renovation of
his nature; and the inward satisfaction with which
he engages in religious duties.

xi

I. Self-knowledge is indispensable to a genuine
conversion from sin to godliness. Of course, we
speak of such as have the use, as well as the faculty,
of understanding; and who are therefore required to
deport themselves in religion, after the manner
of reasonable beings ; for all such are forbidden to
expect that they shall pass unconsciously, or without
the gravest exercise of reason, from guilt to acquit-
tance, or from darkness to light, or from- the power
of Satan unto God. To harbour such a hope, is
impiously to suppose, that reason has been given to
us in vain ; for if this high attribute be good for any
thing, its primary use must certainly be, to carry on
religious intercourse with the great Being from v. hom
it came. We could live by instinct as a beast lives,
but it is reason alone which enables us to adore.

Now, it is a plain doctrine of Scripture, that, since
it is intelligent beings who require to be saved, no
man can be converted from sin to godliness, without a
positive mental apprehension of that remedy for sin
which God has provided and set forth in the atoning
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. To be ignorant of this
remedy, or essentially to mistake its true character,
is to remain in a state of total unregencracy ; " for
tliere is none other name under heaven, given among
men, whereby we must be saved," except the name
of .Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, and raised
from the dead, to give repentance and remission
of sins. There is no salvation in any other, and
it is a belief in him, not simjily as one wlio still
exists, and bears the name of Saviour, but as one
" whom God hath set fortli to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteous-

xii

ness for the remission of sins," which is the leadinc
characteristic of a converted man. " He that be-
lieveth in him," as made known by that which he
has achieved on the cross, " shall be saved ; and he
that believeth not, shall be condemned." But it is
morally impossible for any man to avail himself of
this announcement, simple and gracious although it
be, without a previous or concurrent belief in the
realities of his own condition, as a creature who is
guilty and perishing. Jesus Christ is truly God; he
assumed our nature into union with his own divine
person ; and " gave himself for us," in the strictly
vicarious sense of the expression, " an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour."
" He was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our
peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are
healed." The value of his sacrifice, by this in-
spired account of it, is unspeakably great ; for the
people who constitute the Church of God, were
purchased with his own blood : and we know that
such 3 ransom-price was indispensable, just because
it was determined on by Him who alone could count
the cost, or fix the terms of human redemption.

These are the views of the subject which the
Scriptures of truth invariably furnish ; and it is not
to be denied, that the adoption of them is at once
the essence of Christian belief, and the very turning
point of genuine conversion ; but how is it possible
for a man to adopt them, unless his estimate of sin
in general, and particularly of his oticn sin, be such
as to correspond with them ? He cannot concur
in the device of mercy farther than he sees it called

xiii

for. He cannot admire the power, and wisdonj,
and righteousness, and love, which are so finely
blended in the work of redemption, unless his con-
sciousness of human wretchedness convince him of
its adaptations. He cannot approve of expiation at
all, whether made by the sinner himself, or by his
accepted Substitute, unless his views of the nature
of sin, as committed against a God of eternal right-
eousness, shall convince him it was indispensable.
Much less can he appreciate the stupendous- fact,
that sin was expiated by God, in our nature, without
seeing his own case to be so awfully desperate, that
no less a sacrifice was equal to his rescue. Still all
this is necessary in order to conversion ; for it be-
longs to the very essence of the Christian remedy :
and to believe in Christ for salvation, is just to
know that fact, viewing it precisely as it is. But
these views of sin are just the beginnings of a gen-
uine self-knowledge — the first openings of the
mind on the sad realities of its moral condition.
We call them the convictions which precede or ac-
company a turning to God, and so they are; for they
are as really necessary to that important change, as
the pain of a frost-bitten hand or foot to the recov-
ery of vital circulation. But their very name, con-
victions, is expository of the point ; for it tells us
most explicitly that they consist in saddening sights,
and painful feelings, of which the man himself — nay,
the very conscience of the man — is peculiarly the
theatre.

Thus we say, that self-knowledge is indispens-
able to a genuine conversion from sin to godliness.
There are many mysteries about a man which invite,

xiv

and may receive, a portion of his regard, but the
grand and dreadful mystery which claims his pri-
mary and paramount attention, as a prisoner of hope
addressed by the gospel, is the mystery of iniquity
in his heart. He must see sin as it exists within
him, and, irrespective of its outbreakings, to be a
deadly moral calamity, disturbing the harmony of his
moral constitution ; perverting tlie obvious dictates
of nature, and working its way, by certain advances,
to the settled predominance of misery unmingled.
From his own experience of its evil nature, he must
be brought to abhor it in all its forms, whether
milder or more virulent, as the one thing in the
moral universe, which effectually poisons the human
soul ; as so directly opposed to the great Supreme,
in his very being and administration, that he cannot
forgive it, and ought not to do so, without a perfect
satisfaction for the offence it has given, and security
against its recurrence; and as so ineffably deep in
its demerit, that no satisfaction could ever have been
found, had not the Son of God, in our nature,
" who knew no sin, been made sin for us, that we
miffht be made the righteousness of God in him."
Such are the views of sin in their substance, although
not in all their latitude of import, which must be
realized within a man, in order to bring him to the
point of conversion ; for to turn from sin is to escape
for his life : but so firm is its hold of the human
heart, and so bewitching the love of its gratifications,
that he never can be brought to forsake it, till he
see it as his mortal foe, exhausting his comforts,
and filling up his cup of misery, by its own intrinsic
contrariety to the very being of the God that made

XV

him. We know that isolated self-inquiry will never
furnish him with such convictions. In order to
arrive at them, he must look out of himself, and
form his estimate of moral evil, as it stands displayed
in the word of God ; but the end for which God has
given this display, and the grand reason for study-
ing it which any individual should propose to him-
self, is just to supply him with correct information
about the nature and tendency of moral evil, as it
exists and operates in his own heart. In this view
of the Bible, it is Heaven's appointed instrument,
for curing the sinner of his self-ignorance, and set-
ting before him an adequate view, not simply of sin
in general, but of his own specific moral condition,
as it is estimated by the God that made him : and it
is only when he is led to make this use of the Bible ;
to carry home its information to his own particular
case ; to survey himself in the light of its stern dis-
closures ; to turn away, in short, from tl)at which is
outward and general, and give himself to that which
is inward and special, that he is brought to feel those
moral alarms which are the first symptoms of a re-
turn to God.

This is the kind of self-knowledge which is in-
dispensable to radical reformation; and it is the want
of this knowledge, or ignorance of self, at this very
point, which causes so many to come short of true
and saving conversion. There are some who plead
the very greatness of God, or tlie absolute inde-
pendence of his being, as a protection to them in
their trespasses, arguing as if it were beneath him,
as the Governor of a universe, to take any serious
interest in the actions of a creature so insignificant

XVI

as the wayward child of Adam: and there are others,
who seem to judge of their God very much as they
judge of their king ; thinking it quite enough to con-
form in externals to the letter of his law, and deny-
ing his right to be offended, so long as his authority
is thus far respected. These persons cannot be
converted, not however because they are sinners, for
it is sin which makes a man a subject for conversion,
but because, while conversion is effected by the ex-
ercise of moral intelligence, and moral feeling, they
are so ignorant of themselves, that they cannot ap-
preciate the character of God, and know not what
is meant by being a sinner, on the one hand, or
a saint on the other; and therefore, are shut out
by the grossness of their moral stupidity, from
using any of the means which God has graciously
ordained, for removing men from the one state of
being, and placing them in the other. They may
know these means— a Christian education may have
fixed them in their memories — but they cannot
make the appointed use of them, because they be-
lieve them to be nearly superfluous. But the worst
of it is, that, while the one of the classes referred
to, suppose themselves sheltered in their own insig-
nificance, by ejecting God from the government of
his creatures, the other are not only retained in
their sins, but fortified in them, by overlooking his
eternal Godhead. They admit the necessity of a
conversion, at least in the case of the openly im-
moral, but they measure it exactly by their views of
sin, confining it entirely to the outward conduct;
and when such a conversion as they approve, has

xvii

been accomplished on themselves or others, they
hold the point as finally settled, and consider the
doctrine of a sinner's repentance as no longer suit-
able for them. Their ignorance of themselves, as
the subjects of sin, involves a corresponding error
about the nature of conversion ; and this error, per-
verting their judgment, and quieting every alarm,
deludes them with the shadow, instead of the sub-
stance, and trains them to live in practical Atheism.

II. Self-knowledge is indispensable to that pro-
gressive renovation of nature, which follows a genuine
conversion to godliness. Conversion produces a
radical change in the moral condition of the sinner's
mind, but it does not free him all at once from the
practical influence of sin ; and, after he has attained
it, a process of sanctification is still necessary to fit
him for the enjoyments of the heavenly state — for
heaven is the scene of perfected happiness ; but there
can be no perfect happiness, except where holiness
is previously made perfect, any more than perfect
health, when disease is still disturbing the functions
of bodily life. But let it ever be kept in mind, that,
although this process of sanctification, as well as
conversion itself, be entirely the work of God's free
grace, in respect of all efficient agency, it is not,
by any means, a work in which the man himself
is altogether passive. Its very nature is an inter-
dict on every such opinion. It consists, not in the
implanting of any new principles, but in clearing,
and settling, and nursing to maturity, the principles
of grace which were previously planted; in progres-
sively eradicating the principles of evil ; in destroy-
ing old habits, and forming new ones ; in efforts

xviii

to rise above the influence of sin, as it vitiates the
heart, or pollutes the lips, or misleads the man in his
daily deportment. But, if this be its nature, it is
plainly impossible to carry it forward in the heart of
any man, who has the use of his understanding, ex-
cept in as far as it gains th^ concurrent exercise of
his own mental faculties. It is the work of the man
himself, as the intelligent, responsible, moral agent,
through whose instrumentality the grace of God
puts forth its gradually renewing efficacy; and, as a
proof that it is so, the language of Scripture, enjoin-
ing it, is uniformly addressed, in the form of precept,
to the consciences of those who are supposed to be
converted. " Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling, for it is God that workelh in you
both to will and to do of his good pleasure." " Fol-
low holiness, without which no man can see the
Lord."

But, if the agency of the man himself be thus in-
dispensable to sanctification, it is easy to sec, that a
clear and accurate knowledge of himself is no less
indispensable to the success of that agency. The case,
indeed, is such that he can apply himself to the work
only in so far as his self-knowledge enables him to
do so ; and in whatsoever department the fiicts of his
moral condition are hid from him, or mistaken by
him, there he is sure, not only to commit error, or
to come short in the exercises which minister to sanc-
tiBcation, but this shortcoming is just as sure to re-
tard the growth of his regenerated nature in every
one of its parts. The case of an individual may
illustrate this : " I sincerely desire to be sanctified,"
it has often be said, " but, such is my situation, that

xix

I can neither make progress in holiness, nor make
up my mind to relinquish the pursuit of it. I know,
by education, and, perhaps, by belief, that the doc-
trines, promises, precepts, and institutions of the
gospel, are Heaven's accredited means of holiness, and
that these means are made efficient, by the effectual
working of the Holy Ghost ; but, although some-
what attentive to the use of them, I have scarcely
any experience of their efficiency in my particu-
lar case. An arrest, if not a retrograde, is imposed
upon all my efforts to work out my sanctification ;
and, after a lapse of years of very considerable
assiduity, I find I have gained nothing, but a vast
accumulation of disappointment and sorrow." We
are aware that such a statement as this may some-
times be founded in mistake; for important advances
in holiness are frequently made, while circumstances
prevent them from being discernible. But we are also
aware, that the case of many a reputable Christian is
substantially such as this statement represents it; and
we would say to such a Christian, Although, perhaps,
you have no thought of it, yet, in all likelihood, the
cause of the evil of which you complain, is a culpable
ignorance of yourself, in one or more important parti-
culars. You are sound enough in all essential points
of evangelical belief; you cling, with something like
desperation, to the grand regenerating principle, that
the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses
from all sin : and without reserve, it may be, you
lay open your heart, so far as you know it, to the
cleansing efficacy of that blood. But, what if there
be something in your heart, which you have never
thus laid open, just because you have never detected

XX

it, or, if you have detected — have seen it only in
disguise, but have never dreamed of half the extent
to which it sinfully prevails within you ? What if
there does lurk within you a particular inoral bias
undiscovered, and therefore unresisted, which, in
less, or more, is your characteristic, and so inclines
you indirectly to some particular sin, or class of
sins, as to make them easily besetting, or peculiarly
apt to entice you into trains of thought, or scenes
of intercourse, where the temptation to commit them
operates with peculiar force ? Suppose, for instance,
that this bias is covetousness — and it may be any
one of twenty things as well as this — that it never
rises to such a height, as to drive you to deeds of
flagrant dishonesty, but hides itself under the mask
of a laudable frugality, and finds scope for its opera-
tions, within the limits which the easy Christianity
of this world has prescribed to respectability — sup-
pose this to be your case, and at once you have
found out, if not the real cause, at least a very
likely one, for all your want of success in the prose-
cution of holiness. This one passion, which, al-
though restrained, is not subdued, exerts all the in-
fluence of a ruling passion within you, debasing
your whole habit of mind, by its gross and grovel-
ling affinities, subduing your other evil propensi-
ties, which interfere with its gratification : in this
way, leading you to ascribe to religion, that in which
religion has no part, and insidiously laying your
every faculty under contribution to its interests.
Nor need you wonder that so base a passion should
work so extensively without your knowledge, for
you are its satisfied victim, and of all men on earth

xxi

the least likely to find it out. The picture may
be yours, as certainly as your countenance is the
likeness of man; and yet, at this moment, while
you read these lines, you may be found indignantly
to disown it. It is your fondling among the vices
entwined around your heart, and scarcely separable
from your consciousness of existence. It has scarcely
ever appeared to you, since first it gained the ascen-
dency, except in the form of a virtue, and often have
you thought yourself a pattern of economy, when
doing sacrifice to its net, and burning incense to its

drag-
But, think of the influence of this one sin, in re-
tarding your sanctification. It misleads your view
of your other sins, especially those which are opposed
to it, by inducing you to load them with aggravations
they do not possess, or which you, at least, would
not have ascribed to them apart from its dictation,
and training you to a hatred of expensive vices, not
purely because they are vices, but because they in-
terfere with its sordid cravings. It restrains the
exercise of your Christian benevolence, by teaching
you to undervalue the most amiable social virtues.
Judas preached economy, and frowned on a fine ex-
pression of love ; not because he loved economy, but
because he was a thief and had the bag: and the
heart of many a Christian is chargeable with the
same offence, although his hands were never stained
with a deed of dishonesty. It vitiates your estimate
of holiness. Viewing holiness in mere idea, or as
it exists in heaven, or as it imbues the Bible, your
conception of it may be just; but, viewing it as a
practical thing, to be cherished in t/our own heart,

xxii

and exemplified in your oison life, it is lowered and
made gross, by your covetous dispositions. It wo-
fully misguides your prayers and exertions, by en-
gaging your attention with minor impurities, while
the spring of its own pestiferous influence, the teem-
ing source of your foulest pollution, continues unex-
plored. These are some of its direct bearings against
the process of purification, and to all this extent it is
sure to frustrate the transformation of your mind and
character. But all this would be of little account,
were you aware of its existence, and prepared to bring
it fairly into contact witli the means of its mortifica-
tion ; for the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
cleanses from all sin : and when you see the evil of
this one, and are brought to afflict yourself because
of it, with weeping and supplication, at the foot of
the cross, your deliverance is at hand. But it is your
ignorance of its magnitude, or your deeply infatuated
tolerance of its subtle operations, which renders it so
very formidable; for, with Christianity at all in your
bosom, you cannot see it as it really is, or be truly
conscious of its disastrous tendency, without feeling all
the energies of your renewed nature, your faith and
prayer, and religious assiduity, excited to counteract
it, as the one thing which presses your spirit down
to tlie dust, and baffles all your anxious efforts to
eradicate evil propensity. Think not that a man
can grow holy, while any positively sinful affection
is concealed in his bosom, and maintains a hidden
ascendency over him ; for, although sinful affections
may disagree when out in quest of their separate
indulgences, they are congenial in nature, and where
any one of them bears rule, the rest are sure to re-

1

xxm

eeive protection. The spirit which animates the
whole is one and the same, and one of them cannot
live while all the rest are dead; nor can the rest be
made to decay at the root, (whatever appearances
may show to the contrary,) while so much as one of
them maintains itself in vigour.

This, however, is but one of the instances in
■which ignorance of the state of the heart, retards the
progress of sanctification, and is sadly sufficient to
account for an evil, of which so many so loudly com-
plain. There are a multitude of others, could we
stay to detail them, which would easily bear a simi-
lar comment, and clearly indicate similar results.
Besides that particular moral bias, only one modifi-
cation of which we iiave set before you, we might
specify many other things ; such as your peculiar dis-
positions, as these are connected, not so much with
the prevalence of any besetting, sinf ul propensity, but
with your youthful training, or bodily temperament,
or the scenes in life tlirough which you have passed,
and are thereby favourable or adverse to the growth
of your religious character — or your constitutional
cast of mind, as tending to feeling rather than spe-
culation, or to speculation rather than feeling; or
as dull and obtuse, incapable of progress, except at
the expense of unwearied application, and under the
spur of constant excitement ; or quick and impatient,
prone to be superficial, grasping at once so much as
it cares for, and hasting away to somctliing new,
tlius requiring the ceaseless exercise of restraint and
circumspection, in order to render its activities pro-
fitable— or the particular habitudes, moral or educa-
tional, or merely accidental, in which, to speak so,

xxiv

you have insensibly incased your mind, under the
unobserved influence of the impressions and activities
of the years that are past, and the tendency of which
is to mislead or embarrass your religious exercises,
or to give to these exercises a congenial support-
er these nameless things, which are called the weak
points of your character; their nature, their number,
the occurrences, within or around you, from which
they take occasion, the frequency with which they
betray you, the best means of surmounting them,
and the extent of injury which they entail on that
grand interest, with which, as a religious man, you
feel yourself entrusted.

Such are a few tangible points, which a moderate
share of reflection may distinctly recognize; but they
are points of great importance for clearing your
knowledge of your true character, as a professing
Christian, in the sight of God; and we set them
before you together, that you may ponder them at
leisure, and ascertain what it really is to arrive at
even a limited acquaintance with that most interest-
ing existence, which you cherish so very tenderly,
and often so very complacently designate yourself.
And these, be it remembered, are not the meta-
physics, but the morals of self-knowledge; not the
remote abstractions of the theme, which all, except
the learned, may warrantably overlook; but its plain,
proximate, practical points, in ignorance of which it
is impossible for you to improve your present privi-
lege, or arrive at the adequate use of yourselves in
the exercises of religion. Nor are they few, but
alarmingly numerous, in the case of almost every
individual. The specimens we have mentioned are

XXV

but general heads, to which large additions might be
easily made; and under each of these heads there are
included a great variety of separate items, any one of
which may be quite sufficient (and a number may
co-operate at once) to intercept that spiritual nourish-
ment, and put an arrest on that growth in grace, by
which the man of God is made perfect, being tho-
roughly furnished unto every good work. But if
every one of these be a hidden thing, as subtle in
its working, and as likely to elude detection, as the
covetous bias already described ; if there be some-
thing in its very nature which creates the illusion,
in which it so safely conceals itself; if its lurking-
place within be so deep and intricate, that muhitudes
of men of the keenest intelligence, and the most
diversified information, have failed to find it out,
how tremendous an interest does this create around
the subject of self-knowledge ! — with what distrust
of his best appearances should the Christian search
for this knowledge ! — what sacrifices should he make
in order to attain it ! — how wistfully should he look
for the aid of Omniscience ! — and with what despair
of his own efforts should he utter the prayer, " Ex-
amine me, O Lord, and prove me ; try my reins
and my heart !"

III. Self-knowledge is indispensable to the in-
ward satisfaction with which you engage, or ought
to engage, in religious duties. That religious ob-
servances are intended to be pleasurable, even in
this world, is obvious from the fact, that they are
the medium of intercourse with God in Christ, who
is the fountain of all good. We grant indeed, that
B 45

xxvi

tlic immediate end for which they are prescribed to
Christians on earth, is not the production of happi-
ness, but tlie production of hohness, or the prepara-
tion of the child of grace, in connection with a pro-
cess of painful discipline, for his future manhood of
glory, in the immediate presence of God and the
Lamb. Still they have the nature of privilege, as
well as of requirement ; and are intended to yield a
measure of enjoyment, in the meantime, to alleviate
the ills of the present life, to soothe the sorrows of
contrition, to recruit the strength of the spiritual pil-
grim, and to quicken his desire for his heavenly home,
by continued foretastes of its exquisite felicities. This
has been matter of promise, as well as of experience,
ever since the commencement of the dispensation of
mercy. But it is only in connection with religious
duty that such enjoyment can be warrantably ex-
pected ; for among those who are already in a state
of favour, it is not in a detached or separate form,
but in connection with dutiful religious activity,
that a solid consciousness of the divine favour can
cither be acquired or preserved. " The way of the
Lord is strength to the upright," in as much as it
ministers enjoyment. But while it is thus the na-
ture of religious duties to minister religious enjoy-
ment, we may say farther, that they must do so in
order to their own specific maintenance ; for man is
not capable of persisting in that which he feels to
be utterly insipid : and were the experience univer-
sal, that waiting on God, in the institutions of his
grace, is a matter of form without life, or of service
without enjoyment, the whole system of religious
duty would be speedily disowned. The want of

XXVll

this would infallibly indicate want of authority in
the system itself : for man is easily able to infer,
that a system which rewards not in the act of obe-
dience, is not very likely to punish the disobedient ;
and where love and fear, or delight and apprehension,
are both at an end, it is not possible, in the nature
of things, that the observance of religious institutions
can long survive them.

Still, there are instances, and these very numerous,
in which the observance of these institutions, even
when very exemplary, yields no enjoyment, or at
least, so very little, that, in the estimate of indivi-
duals, it amounts to none. So distressing withal,
are the cases of these individuals, that they know
not whether to persevere in religion, or to give it
up as a hopeless pursuit ; and are only restrained
from this last alternative, by an undefined horror at
the result to which it leads. Now, it is manifest,
that in such a case as this, there must be something
seriously wrong: and from what has already been
said, we may conclude, with the utmost certainty,
that the root of the evil is to be found, not in the
institutions of religion, nor in the mere sovereignty
of the God who has ordained them, but in the in-
dividuals themselves. To the question, what is the
cause of this want of enjoyment ? it is easy to answer,
in a general way, that it is sin deadening the affec-
tions, and defeating the influence of religious truth;
and to the Christian professor who utters the com-
plaint, we would say, in the bowels of brotherly
affection, it is just as sure as you exist, that in one
respect or other, your heart is not right with God,
nor sound in his statutes. This you may fix down,
li 2

XXVlll

as a first principle in the matter. We say of the
man who puts honey into his mouth, but has no con-
sciousness of its sweetness, that his palate is vitiated;
but, with equal certainty, may we say of the man
who engages in religious exercises, without a con-
sciousness of their spiritual sweetness, that his moral
taste is vitiated : and as, in the former case, the
diseased taste is usually an index of disease in the
animal system, so it is, in the latter case, with still
greater certainty, an index of disease in the moral
system. For although a man has been found in
bodily health, who could not discern the sweetness
of honey, yet a man in spiritual health was never
found, who could not appreciate the pleasures of re-
ligion. The very same sins or short-comings, which
interfere with your progress in holiness, are sure to
interfere with your religious enjoyment; by inflicting
the one injury on your well-being, they necessarily
inflict the other, and much that was stated under
the former head, is equally applicable to this.

But it is necessary here to come a little nearer
to the point. You complain of the want of religious
enjoyment ; and we tell you that the cause of it is,
sin in your heart, and, of course, in your life. But
you reply, that although this may be true in general,
yet you know not any particular sin, or class of sins,
to which the evil can be fairly traced. Well, here
is the very point where your self-knowledge fails
you, and where a renewed prosecution of it must
commence, in order to your deliverance ; for you
must come to particulars, and pass from one parti-
cular to another, in eager self-research, till you
arrive at the identical sin or sins which, more than

xxix

- any others, " have separated between you and your
God, and caused him to hide his face from you." A
little attention will show you, that, although your
religious concern be perfectly sincere, and your de-
sires considerably earnest, yet you cannot desire,
with all your heart, that God would effectually wean
your soul from every secondary source of enjoyment,
and fill it exclusivelv with deHght in himself. You
may attempt this, or inadvertently suppose you can
do it; but if you set yourself to it with grave con-
sideration, you will detect within you, a latent mis-
giving, a deep and subtle mental reservation, which
very sensibly chills the desire, and interferes with
its entireness, while you are in the act of breathing
it out. Now, it is this very thing, however minute
you take it to be, which is the bane of your enjoy-
ment ; and until it be discovered, confessed, and
forsaken, in its true and proper consistence within
you, and in its certain tendency to practical ini-
quity, you cannot expect your case to be remedied ;
for be assured, it is only when desire is free and
enlarged, the fair expression of a whole heart, that
it proves itself the harbinger of spiritual delio-ht.

This lurking element of evil, which so sensibly re-
presses your spiritual desires, may be of various kinds.
It may be the principle of frivolity, or spiritual
indolence, or impure affection, or inordinate propen-
sity to the gains, or honours, or dissipating plea-
sures of this fleeting world, or any one of the name-
less forms which inward depravity so often assumes.
It may be no more than a single root of bitterness,
or it may consist of several acting in conjunction.
But, whatever it be, it is latent, deeply imbedded in

XXX

the affections of your heart, exerting its pestiferous
influence almost entirely unperceived; and unless
you are brought to see it in its true and proper
enormity, your heart cannot go out to the fountain
of all goodness, and the springs of spiritual solacc-
nient cannot be opened within you.

Addressing you as a Christian, we know of no
stronger motive for urging you to know yourself in
this department, than an appeal to your present un-
happy condition. You are in a state of painful un-
certainty about your real standing in the sight of
God. You enter his sacred presence, and attempt
to engage in the acts of his worship, in doubt about
the character in which you approach him; you inter-
meddle with holy things, in a state of dark uncer-
tainty about the relation in which you stand to these
holy tilings ; weeks, or months, or years elapse,
while the cloud of this uncertainty still continues to
envelop your mind, and fill you with distressing an-
ticipations. This is your condition, and it must
continue to be so, without the slightest hope of
change, so long as you shun the point of inquiry
which has been set before you ; for a man must know
what he is in any circumstances, in order to acquaint
himself with what he has to do in these circum-
s?ances; and it is only in doing that which becomes
him, even under a dispensation of the sovereign
grace of God, that his heart can arrive at satisfac-
tion. This is a maxim of practical piety, as well as
of common life. To adhere to it, is to follow the
dictates of wisdom, and arrive at wisdom's reward ;
but, to depart from it, is to unsettle your exercise,
and render it unavailing. You bewail the want of

xxxi

religious enjoyment, and in this you are deeply to be
sympathized with, for who, that has ever tasted this
enjoyment, can cease to lament the loss of it ; but,
if you neglect all the while to appreciate the gift of
God that is in you, or to search out, and ascertain,
the opposite agencies which counteract it, you inflict
the injury with your own hand, and nurse the very
evil of which you complain. By this one omission,
which the cause of your uneasiness disposes you to
palliate, you deny to God the highest honour which
any creature can pay to him; (for it is not the spirit
of bondage, but of liberty and delight, which illus-
trates the true glories of the Christian dispensation :)
and do you think it meet, that ho should deny him-
self also, and reward you for doing him dishonour,
by lifting up upon you the light of his countenance ?
Assuredly it is not meet, and common reason might
convince you, without the aid of higher arguments,
that thus to smile on your perversity, would neither
be fit nor desirable. Let experience tell you how
the matter stands, and if it shall testify to your face
that you fail to peruse the Scriptures, or to utter a
prayer, or to enjoy the rest of the Sabbath, or to
prosecute the general duties of religion with the spe-
cial relish of the spiritual man, just because you halt
between two opinions, and dare not pronounce your-
self a spiritual man, then is it clear as the light of
noon, that this is the grand point of inquiry which
demands your immediate and earnest attention.

To the question, how shall I attend to it, so as to
arrive at a satisfactory result ? it may be briefly re-
plied, that the Bible says of men, "by their fruits
ye shall know them," that is, by their appearances of

xxxii

conformity or disconformity to the requirements of
Christian law. But these appearances are not the
test, by which you can arrive at a knowledge of your
true character, as converted or unconverted in the
sight of God. Appearances of ungodliness may be
so uniform, as to be quite decisive against a man's
conversion; but appearances of its opposite, however
regular or well-sustained, cannot be relied on, as a
sure sign that he has passed from death unto life.
They may satisfy a Christian brother, who sees not
beyond the exterior of character, but they ought not
to satisfy you, who are furnished with the means, and
solemnly charged with the duty, of searching into your
heart. But this is not all : the necessity for looking
into the heart, is awfully enforced by the consider-
ation, that, in a state of society like ours, there are
so many inducements to Christian decency, which
have no vital connection with Christianity itself.
Open ungodliness is generally checked by the force
of a virtuous education, or the prevailing spirit of
society, or the influence of settled habit, or the con-
trol of a legal conscience, or a constitutional super-
stition, or a desire for religious respectability, or the
hope of success in secular pursuits, among those by
whom piety is esteemed. These things, and others
like them, are often powerful enough, especially when
they operate in combination, to form a character,
which man must allow to pass for Christian; although,
*in the judgment of Him who seeth the heart, it is
rejected as spurious, because not a particle of genuine
Christianity has entered into its formation.

It is not external actions then, but the spirit of
actions, the motives from which they spring, or the

XXXIU

moral ingredients of which they are composed, which
you are called to examine, in ascertaining your true
character. There must be a tracing of actions back
to their origin, in the interior of the soul, a detect-
ing of their primary impulses, a separating of these
impulses from every thing casual or secondary, a
bringing of them, as thus separated, to the test of
Christian sentiment and Christian law, and a deci-
sion pronounced upon them, according to this test, if
you wish to throw light on the momentous question,
whether you are, or are not, " created anew in Christ
Jesus." Not only is it necessary that all this should
be done, but you must be the doer of it, for it is
properly your business; and, under the eye of
Heaven's omniscience, with the aids of his word and
Spirit, it is yours alone, for no creature else is in
possession of the secrets which enter essentially into
its details.

But if such inquiries are necessary, to show you to
yourselves, and thereby to clear your way to confi-
dence and joy in religious exercise, you cannot en-
tertain a doubt, that often-repeated recurrence to
them is indispensable to their proper management.
The inference indeed is unavoidable, that, if the
work you have got to perform be at once so delicate
and so arduous — if your comfort here, and prepara-
tions for futurity, depend so much on the right per-
formance of it, — and if the responsibilities which it
involves, belong to you, and admit of no transfer to
any other, then surely you are the person, if a per-
son there be in the moral universe, who cannot afford
to lose an hour, or neglect a single opportunity,
which can be improved for its advancement. The
B 3

xxxiv

more you solemnly think of the subject, the more
certain must the conclusion appear, that if the se-
crets of your heart are to be sought out, and in-
spected so very minutely, there must be seasons, at
which you carry it away from every sort of inter-
course with every other heart, secluding it entirely
from the living world, giving it back to itself in the
presence of its Almighty Proprietor, stirring it up
to wakeful research, and constraining it to take it-
self to task, and account to itself for the precious
things entrusted to it, and even for the very spirit of
these emotions which have gone out of it in the
business of secular or reli<rious life. Estrangement
from this exercise, is sure to perpetuate estrange-
ment from self-knowledge, and always to deny your-
self time for the exercise on any ground whatever, is
to allow the paramount business of life to go into
fearful confusion.

These thoughts we offer the reader, as a very
appropriate counterpart, if not a direct continuation,
of our Essay to Judge Hale " On the Knowledge
of Christ Crucified." There we attempted to show,
that the knowledge of the true God, of our moral
relations to him as the Great Supreme, and of that
dispensation which he has revealed, to deliver us
from sin and misery, is infinitely superior to the
most splendid attainments in science and philosophy.
Here we introduce the knowledge of ourselves, as
absolutely indispensable to a saving improvement of
the dispensation of mercy. And we earnestly soli-
cit the reader to keep these two topics distinctly in
his view, in perusing the pages of Sir Matthew

XXXV

Hale, as well as the Volume now before him ; for he
cannot separate the one from the other, in his efforts
for personal religious improvement, without the cer-
tainty of greatly perplexing his meditations and in-
quiries. So exactly do they reciprocate in their
influence and illuminations, that the one is utterly
unattainable without the aid of the other. We can
never know ourselves, except in as far as the light of
the knowledge of God in Christ unfolds us to our-
selves, by dispelling the darkness of our own under-
standings ; and we can never know God in that reme-
dial dispensation, which discloses his mercy, except in
as far as our conceptions are just, and our feelings
suitable, about our own inward moral condition. But,
if we prosecute the two together, eliciting from the
one its illustrations of the other, in humble de-
pendance on the spirit of grace, we may look for rapid
advancement in our acquaintance with practical piety,
and be able to say, with ravishments of delight,
" This is life eternal, to know thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

It was with feelings of high satisfaction, that we
placed the former Essay under the suffrage of a name,
so celebrated as that of Sir Matthew Hale, and it is
with emotions somewhat similar, that we connect the
present Essay with the volume before us. We have
but touched the subject of Self- knovvlcdge; or endea-
voured to awaken the reader's attention to its diffi-
culty and importance, and if we have succeeded in
exciting a desire for instruction in this most inte-
resting department, our end is accomplished ; as there
are ample means of gratifying that desire, in the ex-
tended Treatise now to be introduced.

xxxvi

Baxter's Treatise on the " Mischiefs of Self-
Ignorance, AND Benefits of Self-Acquaint-
ANCE,"islessknown to the readhig public than most of
his other works, not because it is lessValuable, but be-
cause it has not been regularly supplied in separate
and successive editions. Its excellence consists, not
in doctrinally unfolding the economy of grace, or in
directly pressing upon the reader the necessity of
" repentance towards God, or faith towards our
Lord Jesus Christ," but in tracing out the involu-
tions of that most intricate economy of thought and
feeling, judgment and action, moral liking and moral
antipathy, which exists entire, and works apart in the
bosom of every individual ; and in tiiis way it is
powerfully subservient to repentance and faith, by
disturbing the apathy, and combatting the ignorant
indifference, which so fatally shut them out from
men's consciences and hearts. Its general scheme of
thought is instructively arranged ; and although its
topics are numerous, they are not diffusely treated,
while, under each of them, there is a rich variety of
illustrative matter, judiciously selected, and very aptly
introduced. It is idle to say more of its manner of
writing, than that it is the manner of Richard Bax-
ter; showing the man in every page, but clear, con-
cise, and simple, beyond several of his other pieces,
while it is second to none of them in persuasive elo-
quence and impressive fervour, clothing thoughts,
which are not familiar, in very conspicuous language,
and adapting itself, with uncommon felicity, to the
inexperienced and the undisciplined. The whole
style and spirit of the work is exactly suited to the
nature of the subject, and we do think it well enti-

xxxvu

tied to a place among the few books, which the Pa-
rent selects for his child, or the Pastor for the young
of his flock, or the Guardian for his pupil, as a
means of awakening religious inquiry, and forming
habits of early refection.

In conclusion, we would say to our youthful
readers, to whom the science of moral self-acquaint-
ance is a region unexplored, this is peculiarly a book
for you. If other books be more copious in evan-
gelical sentiment, few can better prepare you for
appreciating such sentiment. If it be sparing in
the balm of inward consolation, it is fitted to awaken
those sensibilities, which alone can impel you to
seek for consolation. If it fill you with alarm, by
unfolding the extent to which sin has so fearfully
unmade you, it may also shut you up to the happy
conclusion, that " there is not another name, given
under heaven among men, whereby we must be
saved, but the name of Jesus Christ." But read it
patiently, topic after topic, at seasons consecrated to
reflective secrecy, and with the honest determination
to use it as a mirror in which to look yourself full
in the face. And to give you courage for this, con-
sider the tremendous fact, that while you are a
perishing sinner, placed within the reach of Heaven's
forgiving clemency, yet ignorance of yourself is
hopeless incapacity for the use of this stupendous
privilege. God has given you a reasonable soul, a
very prominent attribute of which is, the power of
discerning its own operations, and thereby conducting
its education for eternity. You have fallen into sin,
with its curse upon your head, and its manifold evil
agencies constantly at work within you. In this con-

xxxviii

ilition, so dismal and so desperate, he has brought
near to you a great salvation, which commences with
the remission of sins, and terminates in the glories
ot immortality. He is urging this salvation on
your instant acceptance, and positively " waiting to
be gracious." But while you know not yourself,
you cannot accept it in any sense which can ever
avail you ; and while your knowledge of yourself is
limited and erring, through your culpable neglect
of means, you cannot possibly prosper, even after
you have accepted it, in the daily use of its spiritual
benefits. Attainment in the one department, must
ever be measured by attainment in the other, just
because you have a reasonable soul, which must be
accounted for to Him who gave it. Know your-
selves, and you shall know God ; judge yourselves,
and you shall not be judged.

D. Y.

Perth, December, 1828.

I

CONTENTS.

Page

IXTRODUCTION. Directions to those who would be

acquainted with themselves,

CHAP. I. Wherein Self-Knowledge consists, . . 57

CHAP. II. The Mischiefs of Self-Ignorance, . . .61

CH.AP. III. Self-Ignorance detected and reproved, . 87

CHAP. IV. Motives to Self-Acquaintance, . . .114,

CH.\P. V. Exhortations to cultivate Self-Acquaintance, 14-9

CHAP. VI. Exhortations to the Ungodly, . . .172

CH.\P. VII. Exhortations to the Godly, to know their

sins and wants, ....... 2.32

CHAP. VIII. Exhortatior.s to the Godly, to know their

Graces and Duties, 273

CHAP. IX. Motives to labour to Know our Sanctification, 285
CHAP. X. External Hinderances of Self- Acquaintance, . .318
C HAP. XI. Internal Hinderances of Self-Acquaintance, 362

TropertT^

ON

SELF-ACQUAINTANCE.

2 Cor. xiii. 5.
" Know ye not your own selves."

INTRODUCTION.

Directions to those 'who isoould be acquainted with
themselves.

He that is a stranger to himself, his sin, his misery,
his necessity, &c. is a stranger to God, and to all
that might denominate him wise or happy. To have
taken the true measure of our capacities, abilities, in-
firmities, and necessities, and thereupon to perceive
what is really BEST for us, and most agreeable to
our case, is the first part of true, practical, saving
knowledge. Did the distracted mindless world con-
sider, what work they have at home for their most
serious thoughts, and care, and diligence, and of
what unspeakable concern and necessity it is, and that
men carry within them the matter of their final doom,
and the beginning of endless joy or sorrows, they
would be called home from their busy idleness, their
laborious loss of precious time, and unprofitable va-
garies, and would be studying their hearts, while

4>2

they are doting about a multitude of impcrtlnencies,
and would bo pleasing God, while they are purveying
for the flesh; and they would sec that it more con-
cerneth them to know the day of their salvation, and
now to lay up a treasure in heaven, that they may die in
faith, and live in everlasting joy and glory, than in the
crowd and noise of the ambitious, covetous, voluptu-
ous sensualists, to run after a feather, till time is past,
and mercy gone, and endless woe hath unexpectedly
surprised them. Yet do these dead men think they
live, because they laugh, and talk, and ride, and go,
and dwell among gnats and flies in the sunshine, and
not with worms and dust in darkness: they think
they are awake, because they dream that they are
busy ; and that they are doing the works of men,
because they make a noise for finer clothes, and
larger rooms, and sweeter morsels, than their poorer,
undeceived neighbours have: they think they are
sailing to felicity, because ihcy are tossed up and
down: and if they can play the pike among the
fishes, or the wolves in the flocks of Christ ; or if
they can attain to the honour of a pestilence, to be
able to do a great deal of hurt, they are proud of it,
and look as high as if they saw neither the grave nor
hell, nor knew how quickly they must be taken
down, and laid so low, that " the righteous shall sec
it, and fear, and laugh at them, saying, Lo, this is
the man that made not God his strength, but trusted
in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened him-
self in his wickedness. — Behold these are the un-
godly tliat prosper in the world, and increase in
riches; surely they are set in slippery places, and
cast down to destruction, and brought to desolation

43

as in a moment, and utterly consumed with terrors:
as a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when
thou awakest, thou shall despise their image."
Though, while they lived, they blessed themselves,
and were praised by men ; yet, when they die, they
carry nothing away ; " their glory shall not descend
after them ; like sheep they are laid in the grave :
death shall feed on them, and the upright shall have
dominion over them in the morning ; man in honour
abideth not : he is like the beasts that perish ; this
their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve
their sayings." They shall find that God is not
afraid to lay the hand of justice on the stoutest of
them, and will be as bold with silken, shining gal-
lants, as with the poorest worms ; and will spit in the
face of that man's glory, who durst spit in the face of
the glory of his Redeemer, and will trample upon the
interest which is set up against the interest of Christ.
The jovial world do now think that self-study is too
melancholy a thing, and they choose to be distracted
for fear of being melancholy ; and will be mad, in
Solomon's sense, that they may be wise and happy
in their own : " The heart of fools is in the house
of mirth, and the heart of the wise in the house of
mourning." And yet there is most joy in the hearts
of the wise, and least solid peace in the hearts of
fools : they know that conscience hath so much
against them, that they dare not hear its accusations
and its sentence : they dare not look into the hideous
dungeon of their hearts, nor peruse the accounts of
their bankrupt souls, nor read the history of their
impious, unprofitable lives, lest they should be tor-
mented before the time : they dare not live like

44

serious men, lest tliey should lose thereby the delights
of" brutes. O sinful men ! against what light, both
natural and supernatural, do they offend ! They
see how all tilings haste away; the names of their
predecessors are left as a warning to them: every
corpse that is carried to the grave, being dead, yet
speaketh; and every bone that is thence cast up,
doth rise as a witness against their luxury and lust:
and yet they will have their wills and pleasure while
they may, whatever it cost theqi ; and they will set
their houses on fire, that they might have one merry
blaze, and warm them once before they die.

I shall give a few directions to those that would
be well acquainted with themselves, and would com-
fortably converse at home.

Direct. 1. Let him not overvalue or mind the
deceitful world, that would have fruitful converse with
God and with himself. Trust not such a cheater
as hath robbed so many thousands before us, espe-
cially when God and common experience call out to us
to take heed. The study of riches, and reputation,
and pleasures, agreeth not with this study of God,
and of our hearts : and though the world will not
make acquaintance with us, if we come not in their
fashion, nor see us, if we stand not on the higher
ground; yet it is much b.etter to be unknown to
others, than to ourselves. A retirement, therefore,
must be made, from the inordinate pursuit of worldly
things, and the charms of honours, riches, and de-
lights: and if some present loss does seem to follow,
it is indeed no loss, which tendeth to gain. Me-
thinks they that sincerely pray, " Lead us not into
temptation," should not desire to have bolts and

45

bars between God and them, and to dwell where
salvation is most hardly attained ! Desire not to be
planted in any such place, though it seem a paradise,
where God is most unknown, and used as a stranger,
and where saints are wonders, and examples of seri-
ous piety are most rare, and where a heavenly con-
versation is known but by reports, and reported of
according to the malice of the servant, and repre-
sented hui as fancy, hypocrisy, or faction : where
sin most prospereth, and is in least disgrace; and
where it is a greater shame to be a saint than to be
a sinner; a serious Christian, than a seared, stupi-
fied sensualist. Bless you from that place where the
weeds of vice are so rank, that no good plant can
prosper near them : where gain is godliness; and im-
piety is necessary to acceptable observance ; and a
tender conscience, and the fear of God, are charac-
ters of one too surly and unpliable to be counte-
nanced by men ; where the tongue, that nature
formed to be the index of the mind, is made the
chief instrument to hide it; and men are so conscious
of their own incredibility, that no one doth believe
or trust another: where no words are heart-deep,
but those that are spoken against Christ's cause and
interest, or for their own ; where a vile person is
honoured, and those contemned that fear the Lord.
Bless you from the place where truth is intolerable,
and untruth cloaked with its name; where holiness
is looked at as an owl or enemy, and yet hypocrisy
must steal its honour from it; where he is a saint
that is less wicked than infamous transgressors; and
where Dives' life is blameless temperance; and
where pride, idleness, fulness of bread, and filthy

46

fornication and lasciviousness, arc the infirmities of
pious and excellent persons; where great sins are
small ones, and small ones are none; and where the
greatest must have no reproof, and the physician is
taken for the greatest enemy ; where chaff is valued
at the price of wheat, and yet the famine is of
choice : where persons and things are measured by in-
terest; and duty to God derided as folly, whenever it
crosseth the wisdom of the world, and hatod as some
hurtful thing, when it crosseth fleshly men in their
desires: and where Dives' brethren are unwarned;
and none are more secure and frolicsome, than those
that to-morrow may be in hell. Old travellers are
usually most addicted to end their days in solitude;
learn to contemn the world at cheaper rates than
they : neither hope, nor wish to live an Alexander,
and die a Socrates: a crowd or concourse, though
the greatest, where there is the greatest tumult of
affairs, and confluence of temptations, is not the
safest place to die in; and I have most mind to live
where I would die. Where men are Christians in
name, and infidels in conversation, the sweetness of
their Christian names will not preserve them or you
from the danger of their unchristian lives. It was
not the whole of Lot's deliverance to be saved from
the flames of Sodom, but it was much of it to be
freed from their malicious rage, and filthy grievous
conversations: the best medicine against the plague
is to keep far enough from the place that hath it.
Desire not that condition, where all seem friends,
but none are friends indeed; but they that seem to
be your servants, are by flattery serving themselves
by you : where few persons or things are truly re-

47

presented ; but men are judged of by the descrip-
tions of their enemies, and the lambs have the skins
and names of wolves : and the best are odious when
bold calumniators load them with odious accusations.
In a word, desire not the place where the more men
seek, the less they find, and the more they find, the
less they have; and the more they have, the less
they do enjoy: where the more are their provisions,
the less are their supplies; the more their wealth,
the more their want; the more their pleasure, the
less their peace; the greater their mirth, the less
their joy; the greater their confidence, the less
their safety : where the great mistake about their
happiness, their best interest, their end, doth make
their lives a constant error, and death a doleful dis-
appointment.

Direct. 2. Keep all clean and sound within, that
there may be little of loathsomeness to disaffect you,
or terror to frighten you from yourselves; it is afright-
ful thing to be much conversing with a guilty soul,
and hearing the accusations of a conscience not
cleansed by the blood of Christ: and it is an un-
pleasant thing to be searching in our wounds, and
reading the history of a life of folly; especially of
wilful sin, and of ungrateful neglect of offered
grace. Make not such work for yourself, if you
love it not. We make our beds ill, and then we
are weary of them, because they are so hard : our
comforts are more in our own hands than in any
others : the best friend or pastor cannot do so much
to promote them, nor the greatest enemy so much
to destroy them, as ourselves. If we will surfeit,
and make ourselves sick, we must endure it. If

48

wasps and vipers be our guests, no wonder if we
dwell not quietly at home ; and if we sit not at ease,
when we carry thorns about us. Folly and concu-
piscence breed our misery: it is the scent and smart
of our ulcerated minds that most annoyeth us. We
cannot waste our peace, and have it. Turk and
Pope, and all the terrible names on earth, are not
so deservedly terrible to a sinner as his own : the
nearest evil is the most hurtful evil. If a scolding
wife be such a continual dropping, and trouble-
some companion, as Solomon tells us, what then is
a distempered, troubled mind, and a chiding con-
science? It is a pity that man should be his own
afflicter, but so it is. Folly, and lust, and rashness,
and passion, are sorry keepers of our peace : dark-
ness and filth do make a dungeon, and not a delight-
ful habitation of our hearts; God would take plea-
sure in them, if we kept them clean, and would walk
with us in those gardens, if we kept them dressed:
but if we will defile his temple, and make it unpleas-
ing to him, he will make it unpleasing to us.
Terror and trouble are the shadow of sin, that follow
it, though the sun shine ever so brightly. Keep
close to God; obey his will: make sure of your re-
conciliation and adoption ; keep clear your evidences,
and grieve not the Holy Spirit, who sealeth you,
and must comfort you. And then it will do you
good to look into your heart, and there you shall
find the most delightful company: and the Spirit
that you have there entertained, will there enter-
tain you with his joys.

But if disorder have prevailed and made your
hearts a place of trouble, yet fly not from it, and re-

49

fuse not to converse with it: for though it be not
at the present a work of pleasure, it is a work of
necessity, and may tend to pleasure in the end:
conversing wisely and faithfully with a disordered,
' troubled heart, is the way to make it a well-ordered
and quiet heart.

Direct. 3. In judging of your present state and
actions, let one eye be always on the end: this will
both quicken you to be serious in the duty, and
direct you in all particular cases to judge aright.
As the approach of death doth convince almost all
men of the necessity of studying themselves, and
calleth them to it from all other studies; so the con-
siderate foresight of it would do the same in better
time. And it is the end that communicateth the
good or evil to all things in the way: and therefore,
as they have relation to the end, they must be judged
of. When you peruse your actions, consider them
as done by one that is entering into eternity, and as
those that must all be opened in a clearer light.
If we separate our actions in our considerations from
their ends, they are not of the same signification,
but taken to be other things than indeed they arc.
If the oaths, the lies, the slanders, the sensuality of
impure sinners, had not relation to the loss of hea-
ven, and to the pains of hell, they were not matters
of that exceeding moment as now they are. And if
the holiness, obedience, and watchfulness of believers,
had no relation to the escaping of hell-fire, and the
attainment of eternal life, they would be of lower
value than they are. The more clearly men dis-
cern that God is present, that judgment is at hand,
that they are near to heaven or hell, where millions
C 40

50

have already received their reward, the more seri-
ously will they study, and the better will they know
themselves.

Direct. 4. Though you must endeavour to judge
yourself truly as you are, yet rather incline to think
meanly than highly of yourself, and be rather too
suspicious than too presumptuous. My reasons for
this direction are, because man's nature is generally
disposed to sclf-exalting ; and pride and self-love
are sins so common and so strong, that it is a thing
of wondrous difficulty to overcome them, so far as to
judi^e ourselves impartially, and to ecr as little in ou
own cause, as if it were another's; and because
self-exalting hath far more dangerous effects than
self-abasing, supposing them to exceed their bounds.
Prudent humility is a quieting grace, and avoideth"
many storms and tempests, which trouble and shake
the peace of others. It maketh men thankful for
that little as undeserved, which others repine at as
short of their expectations: it telleth the sufferer
that God doth afflict him much less than he de-
serveth ; and causeth him to say, " I will bear the
indignaton of the Lord, because I have sinned
against him." It teacheth us a cautious suspicion
of our own understandings, and a just submission to
those that are wiser than ourselves. Pride keepeth
out wisdom, by keeping out the knowledge of our
ignorance. And as Pliny tells us of some nations,
where they are grey-headed in their infancy, and
black-headed when they are old; so pride maketh
many wise so soon, that they never come to be truly
wise: they think in youth that they have more than
the wisdom of age, and therefore in age they have

51

less than what beseemeth them in youth. Every
hard report or usage is ready to break a proud man's
heart; when contempt doth little disquiet the hum-
ble, because they judge so meanly of themselves.
The proud are frequently disturbed, because they
climb into the seats of others ; when humility sits
quietly, and no one bids it rise, because it knoweth
and keepeth its own place. Therefore it is, that
true contrition having once told us of our folly to the
heart, doth make us walk more circumspectly while
we live; and that no man is better resolved than he
that was once in doubt, and that no man standeth
faster than he that hath had a fall: and no man is
more safe, than he that hath had most assaults. If
you love your safety, desire not either to be, or to
seem too high. Be little in your own eyes, and be
content to be so in the eyes of others. As for
worldly greatness, affect neither the thing nor the
reputation of it : look up, if you please, to the tops
of steeples, masts, and mountains; but stand be-
low if you would be safe. And for spiritual en-
dowments, desire them, and improve them; but de-
sire not inordinately the reputation of them. It
seldom increaseth a man's humility to be reputed
humble: and though humility help you to bear ap-
plause, yet the remnants of pride are ready to take
fire, and other sins to get advantage by it.

Direct. 3. Improve your self-acquaintance to a
due apprehension of what is most suitable, most pro-
fitable, and necessary for you, and what is most
hurtful, unsuitable, and unnecessary. He that hath
taken a just measure of himself, is the better able
to judge of all things else. How suitable will
c 2

52

Christ and grace appear, and how unsuitable will
worldly pomp appear to one that truly knows him-
self! How suitable will serious, fervent worship
appear, and how unsuitable the ludicrous shows of
hypocrites ! If a man knew aright the capacity and
tendency of the reasonable nature, and the evil of
sin, and the necessity and distress of an unrenewed
soul, what sweet, what longing thoughts would he
have of God, and all that tendeth to the pleasing
and enjoying of him ! How little would he think
himself concerned in the trivial matters of honour or
dishonour, riches or poverty, favour or displeasure,
further than as they help or hinder him in the things
that are of more regard ! Know yourself, and you
will know what to love and what to hate; what to
choose and what to refuse; what to hold and what
to lose; what to esteem and what to slight; what to
fear, and when to be courageous and secure: the
curing the dotage thus, would cure the niglit-walks
of the dreaming, vagrant world. And they that
find that music cureth not the stone or gout, would
know that mirth and gallantry, and vainglory, are
no preservatives from hell, nor a sufficient cure for a
guilty soul: and that if an aching head must have a
better remedy than a golden crown, and a diseased
body a more suitable cure than a silken suit, a dis-
eased soul doth call for more.

Direct. 6. Value not yourself by mutable accidents,
but by the essence and substance of Christianity.
" A man's life consisteth not in the abundance which
he possesseth." Paul knew better what he said,
when he accounted all but loss and dung for tiie
knowledge and fruition of Jesus Christ, than they

53

that dote on wealth as their felicity. And is a man
to be valued, applauded, and magnified for his wealth,
or for his personal endowments ? Judge not of the
person by his apparel, when the foolishest and the
worst may wear the same. The master and inhabi-
tants honour the house more than the house doth
the master and inhabitants. All the wit and learn-
ing in the world, with all the riches, honour, and
applause, yea, and all the civility and winning de-
portment, will not make a Christian of an infidel or
atheist, nor a happy of a miserable man. As nothing
will make a man honourable indeed, that hath not
the use of reason, which difFerenceth men from brutes;
so nothing will make or prove him holy, or happy,
or safe, that hath not the holy image of God, which
must difference his children from his enemies. If
he be unsanctified, and be not a new creature, and
have not the Spirit of Christ within him, he is an
atheist, or infidel, or an ungodly wretch, let him be
ever so rich, or great, or honourable. And as a
harlot is never beautiful in the eyes of the wise and
chaste, so a wicked man is never happy in the eyes
of any but his phrenetic society.

Direct, 7. Think not that a few, seldom, hasty
thoughts will bring, and keep you in acquaintance
with yourself. It must be diligent observation, and
serious consideration, that must accomplish this.
Many a man walketh where he doth not dwell. A
transient salute is not a sign of intimate familiarity.
It is enough, sometimes to step into your neigh-
bour's house for a charitable visit ; but you must
dwell in your own : be more busy and censorious at
home than the proud and malicious are abroad ; and

54

be as seldom and tender in censuring others, as such
hypocrites are in censuring themselves. Think not
that you are unconcerned in the danger or safety of
your neighbour, but remember that you are more con-
cerned in your own. It is here most reasonable to
say, that charity begins at home, when self-neglect
will disable you to help another. And if, some-
times, your falls or frailty do find you matter for
purging, troublesome thoughts, and interrupt your
sweeter, comfortable meditations, refuse not the
trouble when you have made it necessary : it is many
a sad and serious thought that the ministers of
Christ have for the cure and safety of their flocks :
and should not the people have as serious thoughts
for themselves ? Your reason, your wisdom, care,
and diligence, are more your own than any one's
else; and, therefore, should be more used for your-
self than for any. And if, after much thoughtful-
ness and labour, you find your heart to be no whit
better, yet labour and believe. It is not the last
blow of the axe alone that cuts down the tree,
though it fall not till the last. The growth of
grace, as of plants, and fruits, and flowers, is not per-
ceived by immediate inspection. There is much
good obtained when we discern it not : and nothing
is more certain, than that honest diligence is never
lost in the things of God and our salvation. It is
worth all our labour, if we grow no better, to keep
our spark from going out, and to see that we grow
no worse. And the preventing of evil is here an
excellent good. " O keep the heart with all dili-
gence, for out of it are the issues of life." Actions
receive their specification and quality from the

55

earth. " Death and life are in the power of the
tongue, but the tongue is in the power of the
heart."

Direct. 8. Let not your self-knowledge be merely
speculative, but also practical. Be not contented
that you know what you are, and what you have
done, nor that your heart is much afi'ected with it ;
but let all tend to action, to mend what is amiss, and
to maintain, improve, and increase what is' good :
and let the next question be, ' What am I now to
do ?' or, ' What must I be for time to come ?' It
is a lamentable mistake of many, that tire themselves
with striving to make deep, affecting impressions on
their hearts; and when they have got much sorrow,
or much joy, they think they have done the greatest
matter, and there they stop. But affections are
the spring that must move to action ; and if you
proceed not to your duty, affection is much lost ;
and, if with smaller affection or passion, you can
steadfastly and resolutely cleave to God, and do
your duly, you have the principal thing, and are
accepted : not that outward actions are accepted
without the heart ; but that there is most of tiie -
heart, where there is most of the estimation and
will, though less of passion ; and there is most of
will, where there is most endeavour : and inward
action is the first part of obedience ; and without
these no speculations will avail. However you find
your heart, be up and doing in the use of means to
make it better, and wait on God for further grace.

Direct. 9. Manage your self-acquaintance pru-
dently, cautiously, and with the help of your skilful
friend or pastor. Think not that it is a work that

5G

you need no helper in : if you mistake your accounts,
and put down a wrong sura, and call yourself confi-
dently what you are not, or deny God's graces,
whenever, through melancholy or distemper, you
cannot find them, and pass false conclusions against
God's mercies and yourself, this were to turn a duty
into a sin and snare.

And you must do it seasonably : melancholy per-
sons arc most incapable of it, who do nothing but
pore upon themselves to little purpose ; such must
do more of other duty, but lay by much of this till
they are more capable, and make much use of the
judgment of their guides. And weaker heads must
take but a due proportion of time for self-searching
meditations, lest they contract that troublesome dis-
ease : duties must be used with profitable variety,
and all done under good advice. But young per-
sons, and those that are yet unconverted, have need
to fall upon it without delay ; and to follow it till
they have made sure their calling and election. O
what a dreadful thing it is, for a man to come newly
to the study of his soul, as a thing that he is unac-
quainted with, when sickness is upon him, and death
at hand, and he is ready to pass into another world !
To be then iiewly to ask, ' What am I ?' and,
' What have I done?' and, 'Whither am I going?'
and, ' What will become of me for ever ?' is a most
fearful state of folly.

Direct. 10. Terminate not your knowledge ulti-
mately in yourself ; but pass up unto God in Christ,
and to the blessed privileges of the saints, and the
joyful state of endless glory, and there let your me-
ditations be most frequent and most sweet.

57

CHAPTER I.
Wherein Self-Knovaledge consists.

The Corinthians, being much abused by false
teachers, to the corrupting of their faith and man-
ners, and the questioning of the Apostle's ministry,
he acquainteth them in my text with an obvious re-
medy for both these maladies ; and lets them know,
that their miscarriages call them to question them-
selves, rather than to question his authority or gifts,
and that if they find Christ in themselves, they must
acknowledge him in his ministry.

He, therefore, first, most importunately urgeth
them to the immediate duty of self-examination :
" Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith :
prove your own selves." Self-examination is but the
means of self-knowledge. This, therefore, he next
urgeth, first, in general, by way of interrogation,
*' Know ye not your own selves ?" and then, more
particularly, he tells them, what it is of themselves,
that it most concerneth them to know, " How that
Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates."
As if he should say, 'Alas, poor souls; you have
more cause to question yourselves than me : go to,
therefore, examine and prove yourselves. It is a
shame for a man to be ignorant of himself. Know
ye not your own selves ? Either Christ is in you,
by faith, and by his Spirit, or he is not : if he be
not, you are yet but reprobates, that is, disapproved of
God, and at present in a forsaken, or condemned
c 3

58

state yourselves; (which is a conclusion that you
will be loath to admit, but more concerneth you :) if
Christ be in you, it was by the means of my minis*
try ; and, therefore, that ministry hath been power-
ful and effectual to you, and you are my witnesses ;
the seal of my ministry is upon your own souls: Christ
within you bears me witness, and therefore, of all
men, you have least cause to question or quarrel with
my ministry.'

This paraphrase opening all that may seem diffi-
cult in the text, I shall immediately offer you a
double observation, which the words afford us; first,
as considered in themselves, and then, as respecting
the inference for which they are premised by the
Apostle.

The first is, that All men should kfiow themselves :
or, it is a sharie for a man to be unacquainted with
himself.

The second is, that Not Knowing ourselves . is the
cause of other errors : or. The knovoledge of our-
selves, wozdd much conduce to the cure of many other
errors.

In handling this, I shall show you,

I. What it is to know ourselves.

II. How far it is, or is not, a shame to be igno-
rant of ourselves.

III. What evils follow this ignorance of our-
selves, and what benefits self-knowledge would pro-
cure.

IV. How we should improve this doctrine by
application and practice.

I. Self-knowledge is thus distinguished according
to the object.

.59

1. There is a physical self-knowledge: when a
man knows what he is as a man ; what his soul is,
and what his body, and what the compound called
man. The doctrine of man's nature, or this part of
physics, is so necessary to all, that it is first laid down,
even in the Holy Scriptures, in Genesis, chap. i. ii.
iii. before his duty is expressed. And it is pre-sup-
posed in all the moral passages of the Word, and in
all the preaching of the Gospel. The subject is
pre-supposed to the adjuncts. The subjects of God's
kingdom belong to the constitution ; and, therefore,
to be known before the legislation and judgment,
which are the parts of the administration. Morality
always pre-supposeth nature. The species is in or-
der before the separable accidents. Most ridicu-
lously, therefore, doth ignorance plead for itself
against knowledge, in them that cry down this part
of physics, as human learning, unnecessary to the
disciples of Christ. What excellent, holy medita-
tions of human nature do you find oft in Job, and in
David's Psalms, concluding in the praise of the in-
comprehensible Creator, " I will praise thee, for I
am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are
thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well."

2. There is a moral self-knowledge very necessary.
And this is, the knowing of ourselves in relation fo
God's law, or to his judgment. The former is the
knowledge of ourselves in respect of our duty: the
second, in respect of the reward or punishment.
And both of them have respect to the law of nature,
and works, or to the remedying law of grace.

The ethical knowledge of ourselves, or that which
respecteth the precept of our duty, is twofold. Th«

60

first is, as we have performed that duty. The se-
cond, as we have violated the law by non-perform-
ance or transgression. The first is, the knowledge
of ourselves as good ; the second as evil. And both
are either the knowledge of our habits, (good or
evil,) or of our acts; how we are morally inclined,
disposed, or habituated ; or what, and how we have
done: we must know the good estate of our nature
that we are created in ; the bad estate of sinful na-
ture that we are fallen into ; the actual sin commit-
ted against the law of nature, and what sin we have
committed against the law of grace; and whether
we have obeyed the call of the gospel of salvation or
not. So that as man's state, considered ethically, is
threefold, the state of upright nature ; the state of
sin, original and actual; and the state of grace; we
must know what we are in respect to every one of
these.

And as to the judicial knowledge of ourselves,
that is, as we stand related to the promises, and
threatenings, the judgment, the reward and punish-
ment ; we must know, first, what is due to us ac-
cording to the law of nature, and then, what is due
to us according to the tenor of the law of grace. By
the law of nature or of works, death is the due of
fallen mankind ; but no man by it can lay claim to
heaven. All men are under its curse or condemna-
tion, till pardoned by Christ ; but no man can be
justified by it. By the promise of the Gospel, all
true believers, renewed and sanctified by the Spirit
of Christ, are justified, and made the sons of God,
and heirs of everlasting glory. To know whether
we are yet delivered from the condemnation of the

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law, and whether our sins are pardoned or not, and
whether we are the children of God, and have any
part in the heavenly glory; is much of the self-
knowledge that is here intended in the text, and
that which most nearly concerneth the solid comfort
of our souls.

II. But is all self-ignorance a shame, or dan-
gerous ?

Answ. 1. It is no other shame, than what is com-
mon to human frailty, to be ignorant of much of the
mystery of our natural generation, constitution, in-
tegral parts, and temperament. There is not a
nerve, or artery, or vein, nor the breadth of a hand,
from head to foot, but hath something unknown to
the most excellent philosopher on earth. This little
world called man, is a compound of wonders. Both
soul and body have afforded matter of endless con-
troversy, and voluminous disputations, to the most
learned men ; which will not admit of a full deci-
sion, till we are past this state of darkness and mor-
tality.

2. There are many controversies about the na-
ture, derivation, and punishment of original sin,
which a humble and diligent Christian may possibly
be ignorant of.

3. The degrees of habitual sin, considered sim-
ply, or proportionably and respectively to each other,
may be much unknown to many that are willing and
diligent to know : and so many divers actual sins,
such as we know not to be sin, through our imper-
fect understanding of the law ; and such as, through
frailty, in a crowd of actions, escape our particular
observation. And the sinfulness or aggravations of

62

every sin, are but imperfectly known and observed
by the best.

4. Tlie nature and beauty of the image of God,
as first planted on created man, and since restored
to man redeemed : the manner of the Spirit's access,
operation, testimony, and inhabitation, are all but
imperfectly known by the wisest of believers. The
frame, or admirable composure or contexture of the
new man, in each of the renewed faculties ; the con-
nection, order, beauty, and special use of each par-
ticular grace, are observed but imperfectly by the
best.

5. The very uprightness and sincerity of our own
hearts, in faith, hope, love, repentance, and obe-
dience, is usually unknown to young beginners in
religion ; and to the weaker sort of Christians,
how old soever in profession, and to melancholy
persons, who can have no thoughts of themselves
but sad and fearful, tending to despair; and to
lapsed and declining Christians, and also to many
an upright soul, from whom, in some cases of special
trial, God seems to hide his pleased face. And
though these infirmities are their shame, yet are they
not the characters or prognostics of their misery and
everlasting shame.

6. The same persons must needs be unacquainted
with the justification, reconciliation, adoption, and
title to everlasting blessedness, as long as they are
uncertain of their sincerity. Yea, though they up-
rightly examine themselves, and desire help of their
guides, and watch and pore continually upon their
hearts and ways, and daily beg of God to acquaint
them with their spiritual condition, they may yet

63

be so far unacquainted with it, as to pass an unright-
eous judgment on themselves, and condemn them-
selves vvhen God hath justified them.

But, 1. To be continually ignorant of the excel-
lency and capacity of your immortal souls. 2. To
be void of an effectual knowledge of your sin and
misery, and need of the remedy. 3. To think you
have saving grace, when you have none ; that you
are regenerate by the Spirit, when you are only sa-
cramentally regenerate by baptism ; that you are
the members of Christ, when it is no such matter ;
that you are justified, adopted, and the heirs of
heaven, when it is not so; all this is doleful and
damnable unacquaintedness with yourselves.

To be unacquainted with a state of grace, when
you are in such a state, is sad and troublesome, and
brings many and great inconveniences. But to
be unacquainted with a state of death, when you
are in it, doth fasten your chains, and hinder your
recovery. To be willing and diligent to know your
state, and yet be unable to attain to assurance and
satisfaction, is common to many true believers ; but
to be ignorant of it because you have no grace to
find, and because you mind not the matters of your
souls, or think it not worth your diligent considera-
tion or inquiry, this is the case of the miserable de-
spisers of salvation.

64

CHAPTER ir.

The Mischiefs of Sef- Ignorance.

1. Atheism is cherished by self-ignorance. The
knowledge of ourselves as men, doth greatly conduce
to our knowledge of God. Here God is known
but darkly, and as in a glass, and by his image, and
not as face to face. And, except his incarnate and
his written Word, what glass revealeth him so clearly
as the soul of man? We bear a double image of
our Maker: his natural image in the nature of our
faculties ; and his moral image in their holy qualifi-
cations, in the nature of grace, and frame of the
new man. By knowing ourselves, it is easy to
know that there is a God; and it much assisteth us
to know what he is, not only in his attributes and
relations, but even in the Trinity itself. He may
easily know that there is a primitive being and life
that knoweth he hath himself a derived being and
life. He must know that there is a Creator, that
knoweth he is a creature. He that findeth a capa-
cious intellect, a will and power in the creature, and
that is conscious of any wisdom and goodness in
himself, may well know that all these are infinite in
the first cause that must thus have in itself whatso-
ever it doth communicate. He that knoweth that
he made not, and preserveth not himself, may well
know that he is not his own, but his that made him
and preserveth him, who must needs be his absolute
Proprietor and Lord. He that knoweth that he is

65

an intellectual moral agent, and therefore can act
morally, and is moved by moral means ; and that
he is a social creature, a member of the universe,
living among men, may well be sure, that he is made
to be a subject, and governed by laws, and by moral
means to be directed and moved to his end ; and,
therefore, that none but his absolute Lord, the In-
finite Wisdom, Goodness, and Power, can be his
absolute and highest sovereign. He that is con-
vinced that he is, he lives, he hopeth, and onjoyeth
all that is good, from a superior bounty, may be
sure that God is his principal Benefactor. And to
be, ' The first and infinite being, intellect, will, power,
wisdom, goodness, and cause, of all things; the ab-
solute Owner, the most righteous Governor, and
the most bounteous Benefactor,' is to be God.
This being the description of Him that is so called ;
such a description as is fetched from his created
image, man, and expressed in the terms that him^
self hath chosen, and used in his word, as knowing
that if he will be understood by man, he must use
the notions and expressions of man ; and though
these are spoken but analogically of God, yet are
there no fitter conceptions of him that the soul of
man, in flesh, is capable of. So that the atheist
carrieth about him that impress and evidence of the
Deity, which may convince him, or condemn him
for his foolishness and impiety. He is a fool, in-
deed, that " saith in his heart there is no God,"
when that heart itself, in its being, and life, and
motion, is his witness ; and soul and body, with all
their faculties, are nothing but the effects of this
Almighty Cause. And when they prove that there

66

is a God, even by questioning or denying it, being
unable, without him, so much as to deny him ; that
is, to think, or speak, or be. As if a fool should
write a volume, to prove that there is no ink or
paper in the world, when it is ink and paper by
which he writes.

And whether there be no representation of the
Trinity in unity in the nature of man, let them
judge that have well considered, how in one body
there are the natural, vital, and animal parts, and
spirits; and in one life or soul, there are the vege-
tative, sensitive, and rational faculties ; and in one
rational soul as such, there are an intellect, will, and
executive power, morally perfected by wisdom, good-
ness, and promptitude to well-doing. As in one
sun there are light and heat, and moving force. So
that man is both the beholder and the glass ; the
reader and the book; he is the index of the God-
head to himself; yea, partly of the Trinity in unity.
We need not say. Who shall go up into heaven ?
Saith Seneca himself, by the light of nature,
"God is nigh us; with us; within us; a holy
Spirit resideth within us; the observer of our evil
and good, and our preserver; he useth us as he is
used by us; no good man is without God." Saith
Augustine, " God is in himself as the Alpha and
Omega ; in the world as its governor and author :
in angels, as their sweetness and comeliness; in the
church, as the master of the family in his house;
in the soul, as the bridegroom in his bed-chamber;
in the righteous, as their helper and protector," &c.
and as all declareth him, so all should praise him. —
" Let the mind be exercised in loving him, the tongue

67

in singing him, the hand in writing him ; iet these
holy studies be the believer's work."

2. He that knoweth himself, may certainly know
that there is another life of happiness or misery for
man, when this is ended. For he must needs know,
that his soul is capable of a spiritual and glorioua
felicity with God, and of immaterial objects, and
that time is as nothing to it, and transitory creatures
afford it no satisfaction or rest; and that the hopes
and fears of the life to come, are the divine engines,
by which the moral government of the world is
carried on ; and that the very nature of man is such,
as that, without such apprehensions, hopes, and
fears, he could not, in a connatural way, be governed,
and brought to the end, to which his nature is in-
clined and adapted ; but the world would be as a
wilderness, and men as brutes. And he may well
know that God made not such faculties in vain, nor
suited them to an end which cannotbe attained, nor to
a work which would prove but their trouble and de-
ceit ; he may be sure that a mere probability or pos-
sibility of an everlasting life, should engage a rea-
sonable creature in all possible diligence, in piety
and righteousness, and charity to attain it : and so
rehgious and holy endeavours become the duty of
man as man ; there being few such infidels or
atheists to be found on earth, as dare say, they are
sure there is no other life for man ; and, doubtless,
whatsoever is by nature and reason made man's duty,
is not delusory and vain : nor is it reasonable to
think that falsehood, frustration, and deceit, are the
ordinary way by which mankind is governed by the
most wise and holy God. So that, the end of man

68

may be clearly gathered from his nature ; forasmuch
as God doth certainly suit his works to their proper
use and ends. It is, therefore, the ignorance of
ourselves, that makes men question the immortality
of souls ; and, I may add, it is the ignorance of the
nature of conscience, and of all morality, and of the
reason of justice among men, that makes men doubt
of the discriminating justice of the Lord, which is
hereafter to be manifested.

3. Did men know themselves, they would better
know the evil and odiousness of sin. As poverty
and sickness are better known by feeling than by
hearsay;, so also is sin. To hear a discourse, or
read a book of the nature, prognostics, and cure of
the plague, consumption, or dropsy, doth little affect
us, while we seem to be sound and safe ourselves:
but when we find the malady in our flesh, and per-
ceive the danger, we have then another manner of
knowledge of it. Did you but see and feel sin as
it is in your hearts and lives, as oft as you read
and hear of it in the law of God, I dare say sin
would not seem a jesting matter, nor would those
be censured as too precise, that are careful to avoid
it, any more than they that are careful to avoid in-
fectious diseases, or crimes against the laws of man,
that hazard their temporal felicity or lives.

4. It is want of self-acquaintance that keeps the
soul from kindly humiliation : that men are insensible
of their spiritual calamities, and lie under a load of
unpardoned sin and God's displeasure, and never
feel it, nor loathe themselves for all the abominations
of their hearts and lives, nor make complaint to God
or man with any seriousness and sense. How many

69

hearts would be filled with wholesome grief and
care, that now are careless and almost past feeling !
and how many eyes would stream forth tears that
now are dry, if men were but truly acquainted with
themselves ! It is self-knowledge that causeth the
solid peace and joy of a believer, as conscious of that
grace that warranteth his peace and joy : but it is
self-deceit and ignorance that quieteth the pre-
sumptuous, that walk as carelessly, and sleep as
quietly, and bless themselves from hell as confidently,
when it is ready to devour them, as if the bitterness
of death were past, and hypocrisy would never be
discovered.

5. It is unacquaintedness with themselves that
makes Christ so undervalued by the unhumbled
world : that his name is reverenced, but his office
and saving grace are disregarded. Men could not
set so light by the physician, that felt their sickness,
and understood their danger. Were you sensible
that you are under the wrath of God, and shall
shortly and certainly be in hell, if Christ, received
by a hearty, working, purifying faith, do not deliver
you, you would have more serious, savoury thoughts
of Christ, more yearnings after him, more fervent
prayers for his healing grace, and sweet remembrance
of his love and merits, example, doctrine, and in-
estimable benefits, than lifeless hypocrites ever were
acquainted with. Imagine with what desires and
expectations the diseased, blind, and lame, cried after
him for healing to their bodies, when he was on
earth. And would you not more highly value him,
more importunately solicit him for your own souls,
if you knew yourselves?

70

6. It is unacquaintedness with themselves that
makes men think so unworthily of a holy, heavenly
conversation ; and that possesseth them with fooHsh
prejudices against the holy care and diligence of be-
lievers. Did men but value their immortal souls,
as reason itself requireth them to do, is it possible
they should venture so easily upon everlasting
misery, and account it unnecessary strictness in
them that dare not be as desperately venturous as
they, but fly from sin, and fear the threatenings of
the Lord ? Did men but consider the worth and
concern of their souls, is it possible they should
hazard them for a thing of naught, for the favour of
superiors, or the transitory pleasures and honours of
the world ? Could they think the greatest care
and labour of so short a life to be too much for the
securing of their salvation ? Could they think so
many studious careful days, and so much toil, to be
but meet and necessary for their bodies, and yet
think all too much that is done for their immortal
souls? Did men but practically know that they are
the subjects of the God of heaven, they durst not
think the diligent obeying of him to be a needless
tinng, when they like that child or servant best,
that is most willing and diligent in their service.
Alas ! were men but acquainted with their weakness,
and sfnful failings, when they have done their best,
and how much short the holiest persons come of
what they are obliged to by the laws and mercies of
the Lord, they durst not make a scorn of diligence,
nor hate or blame men for endeavouring to be better,
that are sure, at best, they shall be too bad. When
the worst of men, that are themselves the greatest

71

neglecters of God and their salvation, shali cry out
against a holy life, and making so much ado for
heaven, (as if a man that lieth in bed should cry out
against working too much or going too fast,) this
shows men's strangeness to themselves. Did the
careless world but know themselves, and see where
they stand, and what is before them, and how much
lieth on this inch of time ; did they but know the
nature and employment of a soul, and why their
Creator placed them for a little while in flesh, and
whither they must go when time is ended, you should
then see them in that serious frame themselves,
which formerly they disliked in others : and they
would then confess, that if any thing in the world
deserved seriousness and diligence, it is the pleasing
of God, and the saving of our souls.
• 7. It is for want of acquaintance with themselves,
that men are so deceived by the vanities of the
world; that they are drowned in the love of plea-
sures and sensual delights ; that they are so greedy
for riches, and so desirous to be higher than those
about them, and to waste their days in the pursuit
of that which will not help them in the hour of their
extremity. Did the voluptuous sensualist know
aright that he is a man, he would not take up with
the pleasures and felicity of a brute, nor enslave his
reason to the violence of his appetite. He would
know that there are higher pleasures which beseem
a man ; even those that consist in the well-being
and integrity of the soul, in peace of conscience, in
the favour of God, and communion with him in the
Spirit, in a holy life, and in the forethoughts and
hopes of endless glory.

72

Did the covetous worldling know himself, he
would know that it must be another kind of riches
that must satisfy his soul, and that he hath wants of
another nature to be supplied : and that it more
concerncth him to lay up a treasure in heaven, and
think where he must dwell for ever, than to ac-
commodate this perishing flesh, and make provision
with so much ado, for a life that posteth away while
he is providing for it : he would rather make him
friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, and
lay up a foundation for the time to come, and labour
for the food that never perisheth, than to make such
a stir for that which will serve him so little a while;
that so he might hear " Well done, thou good and
faithful servant," &c. rather than " Thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose
shall those things be which thou hast provided ?"

Self-knowledge would teach ambitious men, to pre-
fer the calmest, safest station before the highest ; and
to seek first thekinjidom of God and its righteousness,
and to please him most carefully that hath the keys
of heaven and hell ; and to be content with food and
raiment in the way, while they are ambitious of a
higher glory. It would tell them, that so dark and
frail a creature should be more solicitous to obey
than to have dominion ; and that large possessions
are not the most congruous or desirable passage to a
narrow grave; and that it is the highest dignity to
be an heir of heaven. Would men but spend some
hours in the study of themselves, and seriously con-
sider what it is to be a man, a sinner, a passenger
to an endless life, an expectant of so great a change,
and withal to be a professed believer, what a change

73

would it make in their cares, and tlieir desires and
conversations ! " Wliat strive you for, O worldlings?
what is here but a brittle glass full of dangers ? and
by how many dangers must you come to greater
dangers? Away with these vanities and toys, and
let us set ourselves to see the things that have no
end." — August inc.

8. It is for want of self-acquaintance that any
man is proud. Did men considerately know what
they are, how quickly would it bring them low !
Would corruptible flesh, that must sliortly turn to
loathsome rottenness, be stout and lordly, and look
so high, and set fortii itself in gaudy ornaments, if
men did not forget themselves? Did rulers behave
themselves as those that are subjects to the Lord of
all, and have the greatest need to fear his judgment,
and prepare for their account : did great ones live as
men that know that rich and poor are equal with the
Lord, who respects not persons; and that they must
speedily be levelled with the lowest, and their dust
be mixed with the common earth, what an alteration
would it make in their deportment and affairs ! and
what a mercy would it prove to their inferiors and
themselves ! If men that swell with pride of parts,
and overvalue their knowledge, wit, or elocution, did
know how little indeed they know, and how much
they are ignorant of, it would much abate their
pride and confidence. The more men know indeed,
the more they know to humble tliem. It is the
novices,* that, " being lifted up with pride, do Aill
into the condemnation of the devil." They would
loathe themselves if they knew themselves.

9. It is self-ignorance that makes men rush upon
D 45

74'

temptations, and choose them, when they customarily
pray against them. Did you know what tinder
lodgcth in your natures, you would guard your
eyes and ears, and appetites, and be afraid of the
least spark ; you would not be indifferent as to your
company, nor choose a life of danger to your souls,
for the pleasing of your flesh ; to live among the
snares of honour, or beauty and bravery, or sensual
delights; you would not wilfully draw so near the
brink of hell, nor be looking on the forbidden fruit,
nor dallying with allurements, nor hearkening to the
deceiver or his messengers. It is ignorance of the
weakness and badness of your hearts, that maketh
you so confident of yourselves, as to think that you
can hear any thing, and see any thing, and approach
the snare, and treat with the deceiver without any
danger. Self-acquaintance would cause more fear
and self-suspicion.

If you should escape well a while in your self-
chosen dangers, you may catch that at last that may
prove your woe. Temptation puts you on a combat
with the powers of the earth, and flesh, and hell !
And is toil and danger your delight ? " Danger is
never overcome without danger," saith Seneca. It
is necessary valour to charge through all which you
are in; but it is temerarious fool-hardiness to seek
for danger, and invite such enemies, when we are so
weak. Goliath's " give me a man to fight with," is
a prognostic of no good success. Rather foresee all
your dangers to avoid them; understand where each
temptation lieth, that you may go another way if
possible. " Chastity is endangered in delights;
humility in riches; piety in business ; truth in too

75

much talk; and charity in this world." — Bernard.
Alas ! did we but think what temptations did with a
Noah, a Lot, a David, a Solomon, a Peter, we
would be afraid of the enemy and weapon that such
worthies have been wounded by, and of the quick-
sands where they have so dangerously fallen. When
Satan durst assault the Lord himself, \Vhat hope will
he have of such as we? When we consider the mil-
lions that are blinded, and hardened, and damned by
temptations, are we in our wits if we will cast our-
selves into them ?

10. Self-acquaintance would confute temptations,
and easily resolve the case when you are tempted.
Did you considerately know the preciousness of your
souls, and your own concerns, and where your true
felicity lieth, you would abhor allurements, and en-
counter them with that argument of Christ, " What
shall it profit a man, if he win the world and lose his
soul? or what shall a man give in exchanse for his
soul?" The fear of man would be conquered by a
greater fear, as the Lord commandeth : " And I say
unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill
the body, and after that have no more that they can
do: but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear;
fear him, which, after he hath killed, hath power to
cast into hell : yea, I say unto you. Fear him."

11. It is unacquaintedness with themselves, that
makes men quarrel with the word of God, rejecting
it when it suits not with their deceived reason, and
to be offended with his faithful ministers, when they
cross them in their opinions or ways, or deal with
them with that serious plainness, which the weight of
the case, and their necessity doth require. Alas, sirs !

D 2

76

if you were acquainted with yourselves, you would
know that the holy rule is straight, and the crooked-
ness is in your conceits and misapprehensions; and
that your frail understandings should rather be sus-
pected than the word of God; and that your work is
to learn and obey the law, and not to censure it;
and that quarrelling vvith the holy word which you
should obey, will not excuse, but aggravate your
sin ; nor save you from the condemnation, but fasten
it, and make it greater. You would know that it is
more wisdom to stoop than to contend with God ;
and that it is not your physicians, nor the medicine,
that you should fall out with, hut the disease.

12. Self-acquaintance would teach men to be
charitable to others, and cure the common censori-
ousness, and envy, and malice of the world. Hath
thy neighbour some mistakes about the disputable
points of doctrine, or doubtful modes of discipline or
worship? Is he for the opinion, or form, or policy,
or ceremony, which thou dislikest ? Or is he against
those which thou approvest ? Or afraid to use them,
when thou thinkest them laudable? If thou know
thyself, thou darest not break charity or peace for
this. Thou darest not censure or despise him : but
wilt remember the frailty of thy own understanding,
which is not infallible in matters of this kind; and in
many things is certainly mistaken, and needs for-
bearance as well as he. Thou wouldst be afraid of
inviting God or man to condemn thyself, by thy
condemning others; and wouldst think with thyself:
' If every error, of no more importance, in persons
that hold the essentials of religion, and conscien-
tiously practise what they know, must go for heresy.

77

or make men sectaries, or cut them off from the fa-
vour of God, or the communion of the church, or the
protection of the magistrate, and subject them to
damnation, to misery, to censures, and reproach ;
alas, what then must become of so frail a wretch as
I, of so dark a mind, of so blameable a heart and
life, that am like to be mistaken in matters so great,
where I least suspect it !' It is ignorance of them-
selves, that makes men so easily think ill of their
brethren, and entertain all hard or mis-reports of
them, and look at them so strangely, or speak of
them so contemptuously and bitterly, and use them
so uncompassionately, because they are not in all
things of their opinion and way. They consider not
their own infirmities, and that they teach men how
to use themselves. The falls of brethren would not
be over-aggravated, nor be the matter of insult or
contempt, but of compassion, if men knew them-
selves. This is implied in the charge of the Holy
Ghost: " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a
fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in
the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou
also Ije tempted : bear ye one another's burdens, and
so fulfil the law of Christ." The Pharisee, that
seeth not the beam of formality and hypocrisy in his
own eye, is most censorious against the motes of to-
lerable particular errors in his brother's eye. None
more uncharitable against the real or supposed errors
or slips of serious believers, than hypocrites, that
have no saving, serious faith and knowledge, but
place their religion in opinion and show, and wholly
err from the path of life.

13. It is ignorance of themselves that makes men

78

divide the church of Christ, and pertinaciously keep
open its bleeding wounds, and hinder concord, and
disturb its peace. How far would self-acquaintance
go to the cure of all our discords and divisions ! Is
it possible that the Pope should take upon him the
government of the antipodes, even of all the world,
(and that, as to spiritual government, which requir-
elh more personal attendance than secular,) if he
knew himself, and consequently his natural incapa-
city, and the terror of his account for such a usurped
charge ? Self-acquaintance would depose their in-
quisitions, and quench their flames; and make them
know what spirit they are of, that inclineth not to
save men's lives, but to destroy them. Did they
know themselves, the Papists durst not multiply new
articles of faith, and ceremonies, and depart from
the ancient simplicity of the Gospel, and turn the
Creed or Scripture into all the volumes of their coun-
cils, and say, " All these decrees or determinations
of the church are necessary to salvation;" and so,
make the way of life more difficult, if not impossible,
(had they indeed the keys,) by multiplying their
supposed necessaries. Did they but know them-
selves aright, it were impossible they should dare to
pass the sentence of damnation on the far greater
part of the Christian world, because they are not
subject to their pretended Vice-Christ. Durst one
of the most leprous, corrupted sort of Christians in
the world unchurch all the rest that will not be as
bad as they, and condemn all other Christians as
heretics or schismatics, either for their adhering to
the truth, or for errors and faults, far smaller than
their own ? Did they know themselves and their

79

own corruptions, they durst not tlius condemn them-
selves, by so presumptuous and blind a condemnation
of the best and greatest part of the Church of Christ,
which is dearest to him, as purchased by his blood.
If either the Protestants, or the Greeks, or the Ar-
menians, Georgians, Syrians, Egyptians, or Ethio-
pian Churches, be in as bad and dangerous a case,
as these usurping censurers tell the world they are,
what then will become of the tyrannous, supersti-
tious, polluted, blood-thirsty Church of Rome?

What is it but self-ignorance that perverteth the
unsettled among us, and sends them over to the
Roman tenets ? No man could rationally become a
Papist, if he knew himself. Let me prove this to
you in these four instances:

1. If he had but the knowledge of his natural
senses, he could not take them to be all deceived,
(and the senses of all others as well as his) about
their proper object; and believe the priests, that
bread is no bread, or wine no wine, when all men's
senses testify the contrary.

2. Some of them turn Papists because they see
some differences among other Christians, and hear
them call one another by names of contumely and
reproach ; and therefore they think that such can be
no true Churches of Christ: but if they knew them-
selves, they would be acquainted with more culpable
errors in themselves, than those for which many
others are reproached; and see how irrational a thing
it is to change their religion upon the scolding words
or slanders of another; or, which is worse, upon their
own uncharitable censures.

3. Some turn to the Papists, as apprehending

80

their ceremonious kind of religion to be an easier
way to heaven than ours: but if they knew them-
selves, they would know that is a more solid and
spiritual sort of food that their nature requires, and
a more searching physic that must cure their diseases;
and that shells and chaff will not feed, but choke and
starve their souls.

4. All that turn Papists, must believe that they
were unjustified and out of the catholic church be-
fore, and consequently void of the love of God and
special grace: for they receive it as one of the Romish
articles, that out of their church there is no salvation.
But if these persons were indeed before ungodly, if
they knew themselves, they would find that there is
a greater matter necessary, than believing in the
Pope, and turning to that faction; even to turn to God
by faith in Christ, without which no opinions or
profession can save them. But if they had the love
of God before, then they were justified, and in the
church before; and therefore Protestants are of the
true church, and it is not confined to the Roman
subjects: so that if they knew this, they could not
turn Papists without a palpable contradiction.

The Papists' fugitives tell us, we are no true
ministers, nor our ministry effectual and blessed of
God. What need we more than imitate Paul, when
his ministry was accused, and call them to the know-
ledge of themselves, " Examine yourselves, whether
ye be in the faith? Prove yourselves: know ye not
your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you,
except ye be reprobates ?" If they were ungodly,
and void of the love of God, while they were under
our ministry, no wonder if they turn Papists. For

81

it is just with God, that those that "receive not the
love of the truth that they may be saved, be given
over to stroncp delusions to believe a lie." But if"
they received themselves the love of God in our
churches by our ministry, they shall be our witnesses
against themselves.

And others as well as Papists would be kept from
church divisions, if they did but know themselves.
Church governors would be afraid of laying things
unnecessary, as stumbling-blocks before the weak,
and of laying the unity and peace of the church
upon them ; and casting out of tlie vineyard of the
Lord, and out of their communion, all such as are
not, in such unnecessary or little things, of their
opinion. The words of the great Apostle of the
Gentiles, so plainly and fully deciding this matter,
would not have stood so long in the Bible, as utterly
insignificant, in the eyes of many rulers of the
churches, if they had known themselves, as having
need of their brethren's charity and forbearance.
" Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not
to doubtful disputations: for one believeth that he
may eat all things, another, that is weak, eateth
herbs. Let not him that eateth, despise him that
eateth not, (much less destroy him, or excommuni-
cate him,) and let not him which eateth not, judge
him that eateth : for God hath received him. Who
art thou that judgest another man's servant? To
his own master he standeth or fallethj yea he shall
be holden up, for God is able to make him stand.
One man esteemeth one day above another; another
esteemeth every day alike : let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind." " Let us not there-
D 3

82

fore judge one another anymore; but judge this
rather, that no man put a stumbHng-block, or an
occasion to fall, in his brother's way." " For the
kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righ-
teousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
" For he that in these things serveth Christ, is ac-
ceptable to God, and approved of men." " We
then that are strong, ought to bear with the in-
firmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves."
" Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also
received us, to the glory of God." Self-acquain-
tance would help men to understand these pre-
cepts; and be patient with the weak, when we our-
selves have so much weakness, and not to vex or
reject our brethren for little or unnecessary things,
lest Christ reject or grieve us that have greater
faults.

Self-acquaintance, also, would do much to heal the
dividing humour of the people; and instead of se-
parating from all that are not of their mind, they
would think themselves more unworthy of the com-
munion of the church, than the church of their's.

Self-acquaintance makes men tender and compas-
sionate, and cureth a censorious, contemptuous mind.
It also silenceth passionate, contentious disputes,
and makes men suspicious of their own understand-
ings, and therefore forbiddeth them intemperately
to condemn dissenters. It also teacheth men to
submit to the faithful directions and conduct of their
pastors ; and not to vilify, forsake, and disobey them,
as if they were above them in understanding, and
fitter to be guides themselves; so that in all these
respects, it is ignorance of themselves that makes

83

men troublers of the church, and the knowledge of
themselves would much remedy it.

14u And it is ignorance of themselves also, that
makes men troublers of the state. A man that doth
not know himself, is unfit for all society : if he be a
ruler, he will forget the common good, and instead
of clemency and justice, will violently exercise an
imperious will. If he be a subject, he will be cen-
suring the actions of his rulers, when distance and
unacquaintance makes him an incompetent judge.
He will think himself fitter to rule than they, and
whatever they do, he iraagineth that he could do it
better. And hence comes suspicions and murmur-
ings against them, and Corah's censures, " Ye take
too much upon you: are not all the people holy?"
Were men acquainted with themselves, their weak-
nesses, and their duties, they would rather inquire
whether they obey well, than whether their su-
periors rule well ; and would think the lowest place
to be most suitable to them ; and would quiet them-
selves in the discharge of their own duty, " making
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiv-
ings for all men ; for kings, and for all that are in
authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable
life, in all godliness and honesty ; for this is good
and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour."
It would quiet all the seditions and tumults of the
world, if men were well acquainted with tliemselves.

15. Self-acquaintance would end abundance of
controversies, and very much help men to discern
the truth. In the controversy of free-will, or human
power; to know ourselves as we are men, would be
to know that we have the natural power and freedom

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consisting in the self-determining faculty and prin-
ciple. To know ourselves as sinful, would inform
us how mucli we want of the moral power which
consisteth in right inclinations, and the moral liberty,
from vicious dispositions and habits. Would time
permit, I might show it in the instances of original
corruption, of the nature of grace, of merit, the
cause of sin, and many other controversies, how
much error is promoted by the ignorance of our-
selves.

16. Self-acquaintance makcth men both just and
merciful. One cannot be so much as a good neigh-
bour without it, nor yet a faithful friend. It will
teacli you to put up with injuries, and to forgive;
as remembering that you arc hkely to be injurious
to others, and certainly are daily so to God. It is
such only that " with all lowliness, and meekness,
and long-suffering, forbear one another in love,"
and " recompense to no man evil for evil," and " be
not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
He that is drawn to passion and revenge, is over-
come when he seems to overcome by that revenge.
It teacheth us to forgive, to know that much is
forgiven us by Christ, or at least, what need we
have of such forgiveness. " Let all bitterness,
and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speak-
ing, be put away from you, with all malice ; and be
ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ's sake hath for-
given you." O that this lesson were well learned !

17. Self-acquaintance will teach us the right
estimate of all our mercies : when we know how un-
worthy we are of the least, and what it is we prin-

85

eipally need ; it will teach us thankfulness for all,
and teach us which of our mercies to prefer. Men
know not themselves and their own necessities, and
therefore they slight their chief mercies, accounting
them burdens, and are unthankful for the rest.

18. Self-acquaintance is necessary to the solid
peace and comfort of the soul. Security and stu-
pidity may quiet the ungodly for a while, and self-
flattery may deceive the hypocrite into a dream of
heaven ; but he that will have a durable joy, must
find some matter of joy within him, as the eflPects and
evidence of the love of God, and the prognostics
of his endless love. To know what Christ hath
suffered, and done, and merited, and promised, is
to know the general and principal ground of our re-
joicing; but something is wanting to make it peace
and joy to us, till we find the fruits of his Spirit
within us, without which no man can be his. " If
a man think himself to be something when he is
nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man
prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoic-
ing in himself alone, and not in another." The
seal, and witness, and beginnings of life, must be
within you, if you will know that you are the heirs
of life.

19. Self-ignorance causcth men to misinterpret
and repine at the providence of God, and to be fro-
ward under his most righteous judgments. Be-
cause men know not what they have deserved, and
what is good for tliem, tliey know not the reason
and intent of Providence ; and therefore they quarrel
with their Maker, and murmur as if he did them
wrong : when self-acquaintance would teach them ta

86

justify God in all his dealings, and resolve the blame
of all into themselves. The nature of man doth
teach all the world, when any hurt is done to so-
cieties or persons, to inquire by whose will, as well
as by whose hands, it was perpetrated; and to re-
solve all the crimes that are committed in the world
into the will of man, and there to leave the guilt
and blame, and not excuse the malefactors upon any
pretence of the concourse or predetermination of the
first or any superior cause : and to justify the judge
and executioner that takes away men's lives, or
estates, as long as themselves are proved to deserve
it. And surely the knowledge of the nature and
depravity of man should teach us to deal as equally
with God, and finally resolve all guilt and blame
into the free and vitiated will of man. Humbhng
self-knowledge maketh us say, with Job, " Behold,
I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay my
hand upon my mouth :" and when God is glorifying
himself on our relations, or ourselves, by his judg-
ments, it teacheth us, with Aaron, to hold our peace,
and to say, with Eh, " It is the Lord, let him do
what seemeth him good." And with David, " If
I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will
bring me again, and show me it, and his habitation :
But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; be-
hold here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good
to him." And as the afflicted church, " I will bear
the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned
against him." Even a Pharaoh, when affliction
hath taught him a little to know himself, will say,
" The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are
wicked." When llehoboam and his princes are
humbled, they say, " The Lord is righteous."

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20. Lastly, it is for want of the knowledge of
ourselves, that precious time is so much lost, and
coming death no more prepared for. Did we carry
still about us the sensible knowledge of our mor-
tality, and the inconceivable change that is made by
death, we should then live as men that are continu-
ally waiting for the coming of their Lord ; and as if
we still beheld our graves. For we carry about us
that sin and frailty, such corruptible flesh, as may
tell us of death as plainly as a grave or a skeleton.
So great, so unspeakably necessary a work, as the
serious, diligent preparation for our end, could not
be so sottishly neglected by the ungodly, did they
thoroughly and feelingly know what it is to be a
mortal man ; what it is to have an immortal soul ;
what it is to be a sinner ; and what it is to pass into
an endless life of joy or misery.

CHAPTER IIL

Self- Ignorance detected and )eproved.

And now I may suppose, that the best of you
all, the most honourable, the most learned, the most
religious, (of them 1 dare affirm it,) will acknow-
ledge, that I want not sufficient reason to urge you,
with the question in my text, " Know ye not your
own selves ?" Judge by the forementioned effects,
whether self-acquaintance, even in the most weighty
and necessary respects, be common among professed
Christians. Doth he duly know himself as a man,

88

that doubteth of a Deity, whose image is his very
essence, though not the moral image that must be
produced by renewing grace ? Or he that doubteth
of a particular Providence, of which he hath daily
and hourly experience ? Or he that doubteth of
the immortality of his soul, or of the life to come,
which is the end of his creation and ciulowments,
and is legibly engraven on the nature and faculties
of his soul ? Do they morally know themselves,
that make a jest of sin; and make it their delight?
That bear it as the lightest burden, and are not so
much humbled by all the distempers and miseries of
their souls, as they would be by a leprosy, an im-
prisonment, or disgrace ? That have as cold, un-
thankful thoughts of Christ, and of his grace and
benefits, as a sick stomach of a feast ? That com-
pliment him at the door, but will not be persuaded
to let him in, unless he will come upon their terms,
and dwell with their unmortified sin, and be a ser-
vant to their flesh, and leave them their worldly
prosperity and delights, and save them for these
fruits of the flesh, when sin and the world shall cast
them off?

Do those men truly know themselves, that think
they need not the Spirit of Christ for regeneration,
conversion, and sanctification ; nor need a diligent,
holy life ; nor to be half so careful and serious for
their salvation, as they are for a shadow of happiness
in the world ? That would, without entreaty, be-
stir themselves if their houses were on fire ; and yet
think he is too troublesome and precise, that en-
treateth them to bestir themselves for heaven, and to
quit themselves like men for their salvation ; and to

89

look about them, and spare no pains for the escaping
everlasting misery ; when this is the time, the only
time, when all this must be done, or they are utterly
undone for ever.

Do they know themselves, and what they want,
and what indeed would do them good, that itch after
sensual delights, and please their appetites and lusts,
and waste their time in needless sports, and long for
honour and greatness in the world, and study for
preferment more than for salvation, and think they
can never stand too high nor have too much . as if it
were so desirable to fall from the highest pinnacle,
or to die forsaken by that, for which they forsook
the Lord.

Do our feathered, gaudy gallants, or our frizzled,
wanton dames, understand what it is that they are
so proud of, or do so carefully trim up and adorn ?
Do they know what flesh is, as they would do, if
they saw the comeliest of their companions, when he
hath lain a month, or twelve months, in the grave ?
Do they know what sin is, as a sight of hell would
make them know, or the true belief of such a state?
If they did, they would think that another garb doth
better beseem such miserable sinners ; and that per-
sons in their case have something else to mind, than
toyishly to spruce up themselves like handsome pic-
tures for men to look upon ; and something else to
spend their hours in, than dalliance and compliments,
and unnecessary ornaments ; and that the amiable
and honourable beauty, and comeliness, and worth,
consisteth in the holy image of God, the wisdom and
heavenly endowments of the soul, and in a heavenly,
charitable, righteous conversation, and good works;

90

and not in a curious dress or gaudy attire, which a
fool may wear as well as a wise man, and a Dives,
that must lie in hell, when a Lazarus may lie in
sores and rags.

Do they know themselves that fear no snares, but
choose the life of the greatest temptations and danger
to their souls, because it is highest, or hath most
provision for the flesh ? and that think they can keep
in their candle in the greatest storms, and in any
company maintain their innocency ? And yet, can-
not understand so much of the will of God, nor of
their own interest and danger, as to resist a tempta-
tion when it comes, though it offer them but the
most inconsiderable trifle, or the most sordid and
unmanly lust.

Do they know themselves, that are prying into
unrevealed things, and will be wise, in matters of
theology, above what is written ? That dare set
their shallow brains, and dark, unfurnished under-
standings, against the infallible word of God; and
question the truth of it, because it suiteth not with
their lame and carnal apprehensions ; or, because
they cannot reconcile what seemeth to them to be
contradiction ; nor answer the objections of every
bold and ignorant infidel ? In a word, when God
must not be God unless he please them ; nor his
word be true, unless it be all within the reach of
them, that never employed the time and study to
understand it, as they do to understand the books
that teach them languages, arts, and sciences, and
treat of lower things : and when Scripture truth
must be called in question, as oft as an ignorant eye
shall read it, or an unlearned, graceless person mis-

91

understand it: when offenders, that should bewail and
reform their own transgressions of the law, shall turn
their accusations against the law, and call it too pre-
cise or strict, and believe and practise no more than
stands with their obedience to the law of sin, and
will quarrel with God, when they should humbly
learn, and carefully obey him ; and despise a life of
holy obedience, instead of practising it; and in ef-
fect, behave themselves, as if they were fitter to rule
themselves and the world than God is; and as if it
were not God, but they, that should give the law,
and be the judge ; and God were the subject, and
man were God ? Do you think, that sinful, creep-
ing worms, that stand so near the grave and hell, do
know themselves, when they think, or speak, or live
according to such unreasonable arrogancy ? Do
they know themselves, that reproach their brethren
for human frailties, and difference of opinion in
modes and circumstances, and errors smaller than
their own ? And that, by calling all men heretics,
sectaries, or schismatics, that differ from them, do
tempt men to turn infidels or Papists, and to take
us all for such as we account each other ? And
that, instead of receiving the weak in faith, whom
God receiveth, will rather cast out the most faithful
labourers, and cut off Christ's living members from
his church, than forbear the imposing of unnecessary
things ? I dare say, were it not for unacquainted-
ness with our brethren and ourselves, we sliould put
those in our bosoms as the beloved of the Lord,
that now we load with censures and reproaches : and
the restoring of our charity would be the restoring
of our unity. If blind men would make laws for

92

the banishment of all that cannot read the smallest
characters, you would say, they had forgot them-
selves. Nay, when men turn Papists or Separatists,
and fly from our churches, to shun those that per-
haps are better than themselves, and to get far
enough from the smaller faults of others, while they
carry with them far greater of their own ; when
people are more apt to accuse the church than tliem-
selves, and say the church is unworthy of their com-
munion, rather than that they are unworthy the
communion of the church, and think no room in the
house of God is clean and good enough for them,
while they overlook their own uncleanness; when
men endure a hundred calujnnics to be spoken of
their brethren, better than a plain reprehension of
themselves; as if their persons only would render
their actions justifiable, and the reprover culpable ;
judge whether these men are well acquainted witii
themselves.

What, should we go further in the search, when,
in all ages and countries of the world, the unmerci-
fulness of the rich, the murmuring of the poor, the
hard usage by superiors, the disobedience of in-
feriors, the commotions of the state, the wars and
rebellions that disquiet the world, the cruelty,
covered with pretences of religion, the unthankful-
ness for mercies, the murmuring under afflictions,
too openly declare that most men have little knowledge
of themselves ; to conclude, that when we see that
none are more self-accusing and complaining than
the most sincere, and none more self-justifying and
confident than the ungodly, careless souls ; that none
walk more heavily, than many of the heirs of life,

93

and none are merrier than many that must lie in hell
for ever : that all that a minister can say, will not
convince many upright ones of their integrity, nor
any skill or industry suffice to convince most wicked
men that they are wicked ; nor, if our lives lay on
it, we cannot make them see the necessity of con-
version, nor know their misery, till feeling tell them
it is now too late: when so many walk sadly and la-
mentingly to heaven ; and so many go fearlessly and
presumptously to hell, and will not believe it till they
are there; by all this judge, what work self-igno-
rance raaketh in the world.

"Know thyself," is many a man's motto, that is
a stranger to himself, as the house may be dark
within that hath the sign of the sun hanging at the
door. It is easy to say, men should know them-
selves, and out of the book or brain, to speak of the
matters of the heart: but, indeed to know ourselves
as men, as sinners, as Christians, is a work of greater
difficulty, and such as few are well acquainted with :
Shall I go a little further in the discovery of it ?

1. Whence is it that most are so unhumbled ; so
great and good in their own esteem ; so strange to
true contrition and self-abhorrcnce, but that they are
voluntary strangers to themselves? To loathe
themselv£s for sin, to be little in their own eyes, to
come to Christ as little children, is the case of all
that know themselves aright. And Christ made
himself of no reputation, but took upon him the form
of a servant, and set us a pattern of the most won-
derful humiliation that ever was performed, to convince
us of the necessity of it, that have sin to humble us,
when he had none. " Learn of me, for I am meek

94

and lowly." And one would think it were a lesson
easily learned by such as wc, that carry about us,
within and without, so much sensible matter of hu-
miliation. " Had Christ bid us learn of him to
make a world, to raise the dead, and work miracles,
the lesson had been strange : but to be meek and
lowly is so suitable to our low condition, that if we
knew ourselves we could not be otherwise." — An-
gustme.

To be holy without humility, is to be a man- with-
out the essentials of nature, or to build without a
foundation. It is the contrite heart that is the habi-
tation and delight of God on earth; the acceptable
sacrifice. " He that humbleth himself shall be ex-
alted, and he that cxalleth himself shall be brought
low." We must not overvalue ourselves, if we w'ould
have God esteem us; we must be vile and loathed
either in his eyes or our own. " It is specifical to
the elect to think more meanly of themselves than
they are." — Gregori/. But I urge you not to err in
your humility. It were low enough, if we were as
low, in our own esteem, as we are indeed : which
self-acquaintance must procure. IHe is least dis-
pleased with himself, that least knoweth himself;
and he that hath the greatest light of grace, perceiv-
eth most in himself to be reprehended." — Gregory.
Illumination is the first part of conversion, and of
the new creature; and self-discovery is not the least
pari of illumination. There can be no salvation
without it, because no humiliation.

But how rare this is, let experience determine.
To have a poor habitation, a poor attire, and per-
haps of choice, (though that is not usual,) is much

95

more common than an humble soul. It is the most
ill-favoured pride that stealeth some rags of humility
to hide its shame. And saith Jerome truly, " It is
easier to change our clothing than our mind, and to
put off a gaudy habit, than our self-flattering, tume-
fied hearts." Many a one can live quietly without
gold rings and jewels, or sumptuous houses and at-
tendance, that cannot live quietly without the esteem
and applause of men, nor endure to be accounted as
indeed he is.

O therefore, as you would escape divine contempt,
and the most desperate precipitation, know your-
selves. For that which cast angels out of heaven,
will keep you out, if it prevail. As Hugo acutely
saith, " Pride was bred in heaven, (no otherwise
than as death in life,) but can never hit the way
thither again, from whence it fell." Open the win-
dows of our breast to the Gospel light, to the laws of
conviction, to the light of reason, and then be un-
humbled if you can. Nature is low, but sin and
wrath are the matter of our great humiliation, that
have made us miserably lower.

2. The abounding of hypocrisy showeth how little
men are acquainted with themselves. I speak not
here of that gross hypocrisy which is always known
to him that hath it, but of that close hypocrisy,
which is a professing to be what we are not, or to
believe what we believe not, or to have what we
have not, or to do what we do not. What article of
faith do not most of us confidently profess ? What
petition of the Lord's Prayer will they not put up ?
Which of the Commandments will they not profess
their obedience to ? While the stream of their con-

90

versation testifieth, that in their hearts there is none
of the belief, the desire, or the obedience, in sincerity,
which they profess. Did they know themselves,
they would be ashamed of the vanity of their profes-
sion, and of the miserable want of the things pro-
fessed ; and that God, who is so nigh their moutlis,
is so far from their hearts. If you heard an illiterate
man profess, that he understandeth all the languages
and sciences, or a beggar boasting of his wealth,
would you take any of these to be the words of one
that knows himself? Surely they are in the dark
that spend their days in dreaming visions : but they
have their eyes so much on the beholders, that they
have no leisure to peruse themselves : they are so
careful to be esteemed good, that they are careless
of being what they seem.

Especially, if they practise not the vicious inclina-
tions of their hearts, they think they have not the
vice they practise not, and that the root is dead be-
cause it is winter : when it is the absence of tempta-
tions and occasions, and not of vicious habits or in-
clinations, that smooths their lives with seeming
innocency, and keeps their sins from breaking forth
to their own or others' observation. " The feeble
vices of many lie hid: there are wanting instruments
of drawing forth their wickedness. So a poisonous
serpent may be safely handled, while he is stiff with
cold, and yet it is not because he hath no venom, but
because it is stupificd : so it is with the cruelty,
luxury, and ambition of many." — Seneca, The
knowledge of yourselves is the bringing in of light
into your souls, which will awaken you from the hy-
pocrite's dream, and make such apparitions vanish.

97

Come near this fire, and the paint of hypocrisy will
melt away.

3. The common impatience of plain reproof, and
the love of flattery, show us how much self-ignorance
doth abound. Most men love those that have the
highest estimation of them, be it true or false. They
are seldom offended with any for overvaluing them.
They desire not much to be accounted well when
they are sick, nor rich when they are poor, but to be
accounted wise though they are foolish, and godly
when they are ungodly, and honest and faithful
when they are deceitful and corrupt: this is a cour-
tesy that you must not deny them ; they take it for
their due. They will never call you heretics for
such errors as these: and why is it, but because they
err about themselves, and therefore would have others
do so too.

A wise man loveth himself so well, that he would
uot be flattered into hell, nor die as Sisera or Sam-
son, by good words, as the harbingers of his woe-
He loveth ingenuous penitence so well, that he can-
not love the flatterer's voice, that contradicteth it.
Faithful reprovers are the messengers of Christ, that
call us to repentance, that is, to life: unfaithful flat-
terers are the messengers of the devil, to keep us
from repentance, and harden us in impeiiitency unto
d«ath. If we know ourselves, we sliall know that
when we are over-valued and over-praised as being
being more learned, wise, or holy than we are, it is
not we that are loved and praised ; for we are not
such as that love or praise supposeth us to be. Vices,
like worms, are bred and crawl in the inward parts^
unseen, unfelt of him that carrieth them about him ;

£ 45

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and therefore, by the sweetmeats of flattery and sen-
suality, they arc ignorantly fed : but it is bitter
medicines that must kill them; which those only
will endure, that know they have them, and what
they are. You speak bitterly, saith the impatient
sinner to the plain reprover ; but such are sweet and
excellent men that meddle not with the sore. But
it is bitter things that are wholesome to your souls,
that befriend your virtues. " Sermons.not piercing,
but pleasing, are not wise," saith Jerome. But, alas !
men follow the appetite of their vices, not only in
choosing their meat, and drink, and company, and
recreations, but also in the choice of the church that
they will hold communion with, and the preachers
that they will hear : and they will have the sweet,
and that which their corruption loveth, come of it
what will. Nay, pride hath got so great dominion,
that flattery goeth for due civility ; and he is ac-
counted cynical or morose that useth it not. To
cal^ men as they are, or to tell them of their faults
with necessary freedom, though with the greatest
love, and caution, and deprecation of offence, is a
thing that most, especially great ones, cannot digest.
A man is supposed to rail, that speaketh without
fiattery ; and to reproach them, that would save them
from their sins. Saith Jerome, " The vice of flat-
tery now so reignctli, and, which is worst, goeth un-
der the name of humility and good-will, that he that
knoweth not how to flatter is reputed envious or
proud." Indeed, some men have the wit to hate
a feigned hypocritical flatterer, and also modestly to
take on them to disown the excessive commendations
of a friend; but these mistaken, friendly flatterers,

99

seldom displease men at the heart. Saith Hierony-
mus, " We can say we are unworthy, and modestly
blush ; but, within, the heart is glad at its own com-
mendation." Saith Seneca, " We soon please our-
selves to meet with those that call us good men, wise
and holy : and we are not content with a little praise :
whatever flattery heapeth on us without shame, we
lay hold on it as due ; we assent to them that say we
are the best and most holy, when we oftentimes
know ourselves that they lie." All this is for the
want of the true knowledge of themselves. When
God hath acquainted a sinner effectually with him-
self, he quickly calleth himself by other names than
flatterers do. Vv'ith Paul he saith, " We ourselves
were sometime foolish, disobedient, serving divers
lusts an'd pleasures ;" that he was mad against the
saints in persecuting them. He then speaks so
mucli against himself, that, if tender ministers and
experienced friends did not think better of him than
he of himself, and persuade him to more comfortable
thoughts, he would be ready to despair, and think
himself unworthy to live upon the earth.

4. Judge also how well men know themselves,
when you have observed, what different apprehen-
sions they have of their own ftiults and of other
men's ; and of those that are suitable to their dispo-
sitions or interests, and those that are against them.
They seem to judge of the actions by the persons,
and not of the persons by the actions. Though he
be iiimself a sensualist, a worldling, drowned in am-
bition and pride, whose heart is turned away from
God, and utterly strange to the mystery of regene-
ration and a heavenly life, yet all this is scarcely dis-
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100

ceriied by him, and is little troublesome, and less
odious than the failings of another, whose heart and
life is devoted to God. The different opinions, or
modes and circumstances of worship, in another that
truly fcareth God, is matter of their severer cen-
sures and reproach, than their own omissions, and
averseness, and enmity to holiness, and the dominion
of their deadly sins. It seems to them more into-
lerable for another to pray without a book, than for
themselves to pray without any serious belief, or
love, or holy desire, without any feeling of their sins,
or misery, or wants; that is, to pray with tlie lips
without a heart ; to pray to God without God, even
without the knowledge or love of God, and to pray
without prayers. It seemed to the hypocrital Pha-
risees, a greater crime in Christ and his disciples, to
violate their traditions, in not washing before they
eat, to break the ceremonious rest of their Sabbath
by healing the diseased, or plucking ears of corn,
than in themselves to hate and persecute the true
believers and worshippers of God, and to kill the
Lord of Life himself. They censured the Samari-
tans for not worshipping at Jerusalem, but censured
not themselves for not worshipping God, that is a
Spirit, in spirit and in truth. Which makes me
remember the course of their successors, the ceremo-
nious Papists; that condemn others for heretics, and
fry them in the flames, for not believing that bread
is no bread, and wine is no wine, and that bread is
to be adored as God, and that the souls of dead men
know the hearts of all that pray to them in the world
at once; and that the Pope is the vice-christ, and
sovereign of all the Christians in the world; and for

101

reading the Scriptures, and praying in a known
tongue, when they forbid it; and for not observing
a world of ceremonies; when all their enmity to rea-
son, piety, charity, humanity, all their religious ty-
ranny, "hypocrisy, and cruelty, do seem but holy zeal,
and laudable in themselves. To lie, dissemble, for-
swear, depose and murder princes, is a smaller mat-
ter to them when the Pope dispenseth with it, and
when it tends to the advantaf^e of their faction, which
they call the church, than to eat flesh on Friday, or
in Lent, to neglect the mass, or images, or cross-
ing, &c.

And it makes me remember Hall's description of
a hypocrite, " He turneth all gnats into camels, and
cares not to undo the world for a circumstance.
Flesh on Friday is more abominable to him, than
his neighbour's bed: he abhors more not to uncover
at the name of Jesus, than to swear by the name of
God, &c." It seems, that prelates were guilty of
this in Bernard's days, who saith, " Our prelates
strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel, while permit-
ting greater matters, they discuss (or sift) the less.
Excellent estimators of things indeed, that in smaller
matters employ great diligence; but in the greatest,
little or none at all." And the cause of all this par-
tiality is, that men are unacquainted with themselves.
They love and cherish the same corruptions in them-
selves, which they should hate and reprehend in
others. And saith Jerome, " How can a prelate of
the church reform the evil that is in it, that rusheth
into the like offence ? Or with what freedom can
he rebuke a sinner, when his conscience secretly tells
him, that he hath himself committed the same faults
which he reproveth ?"

102

Would men but first be acquainted witli them-
selves, and pass an impartial jLulgment on the affec-
tions and actions that are nearest them, and that
most concern them, they would be more competent,
and more compasyiouatc judges of tiieir brethren,
that are now so hardly used by tiiem. It is excel-
lent advice that Austin gives us : " When neces-
sity constraineth us to reprove any one, let us think
whether it be such a vice as we never had ourselves;
and then let us think that we are men, and might
have had it : or, it" we once had such, but have not
now, then let the remembrance of common frailty
touch us, tiiat compassion and not hatred may lead
the way to our reproof: but if we find that we have
the same vice ourselves, let us not chide, but groan,
and move, (or desire) that we may both equally lay
it by."

5. It shows how little men know themselves,
wlien they must needs be the rule to all other men,
as far as they are able to commend it; and that in
the matters that men's salvation dcpeudeth on, and
in the smallest, tender, disputable points; and even
in those things where themselves are most unfit to
judge. ' In every controverted point of doctrine,
(though such as others have much better studied
than themselves,) he that hath strength to suppress
all those that differ from him, must ordinarily be
the umpire; so is it oven in the modes and circum-
stances of worship. Perhaps Christ may have the
honour to be called the King of the church, and
the Scripture have the honour to be called his laws.
]jut indeed it is they that would be the lords them-
selves; and it is their wills and words that must jbe

103

the laws; and this under pretence of serving Christ,
and interpreting his laws; when they have talked
the utmost for councils, fathers, church-tradition, it
is themselves that indeed must be all these ; for
nothing but their own conceits and wills must go for
the sense of decrees, or canons, fathers, or tradition.
Even they that hate the j>ower and serious practice
of religion, would fain be the rule of religion to all
others : and they that never knew what it was to
worship God in spirit and truth, with delight and
love, and suitableness of soul, would needs be the
rule of worship to all others, even in the smallest
circumstances and ceremonies. And they would be
the governors of the church, or tlie determiners of
its mode of government, that they would never be
brought under the government of Christ themselves.
, If it please them better to spend the Lord's-day in
plays or sports, or compliment or idleness, than ia
learning the will of God in his word, or worshipping
him, and begging his mercy and salvation, and
seriously preparing for an endless life, they would
have all others do the like. If their full souls
loathe the honey-comb, and they are weary of being
instructed above an hour, or twice a day, they would
have all others forced to tlieir measure, that they
may seem as diligent as others, when others are
compelled to be as negligent as they. Alas! did
men but know themselves, the weakness of their un-
derstandings, the sinful bias that personal interest
and carnal inclinations have set upon their wills,
they would be less arrogant and more compassionate,
and not think, by making themselves as gods, to
reduce the unavoidable diversities that will be found

104.

among mankind, to a unity in conformity to their
minds and wills, and that in the matters of God and
salvation; where every man's conscience that is wise
and faithful, will be tenacious of a double interest
(of God and of his soul) which he cannot sacrifice
to the will of any. But be so just as not to mistake
and misreport me in all this, as if I pleaded for
libertinism or disorder, or spoke against govern-
ment, civil or ecclesiastical; when it is only private
ambition, uncharitableness, and cruelty, and papal
usurpations over the church and consciences of men,
that I am speaking of; which men, I am sure, will
have other thoughts of, when God hath made them
know themselves, than they have while passion hin-
dereth them from knowing what spirit they are of :
they will then see, that the weak in faith should
have been received, and that catholic unity is only
to be founded in the universal Head, and End, and
Rule.

6. The dreadful change that is made upon men's
minds, when misery or approaching death awakes
them, doth show how little they knew themselves
before. If they have taken the true estimate of
themselves in their prosperity, how come they to be
so much changed in adversity? Why do they
begin then to cry out of their sins, and of the folly
of their worldliness and sensuality, and of the vanity
of the honours and pleasures of this life? Why
do they then begin to wish, with gripes of con-
science, that they had better spent their precious
time, and minded more the matters of eternity, and
taken the course as those did whom they once de-
rided, as making more ado than needs ? Why do

105

they then tremble under the apprehensions of their
unreadiness to die, and to appear before the dreadful
God, when formerly such thoughts did little trouble
them ? Now there is no such sense of their sin or
danger upon their hearts. Who is it now that ever
hears such lamentations and self-accusations from
them, as then it is likely will be heard ? The same
man that then will wish, with Balaam, that he might
" die the death of the righteous, and that his latter
end might be like his," will now despise and grieve
the righteous. The same man that then will pas-
sionately wish that he had spent his days in holy
preparations for his change, and lived as strictly as
the best about him, is now so much of another mind,
that he perceives no need of all this diligence; but
thinks it is timorous superstition, or at least, that he
may do well enough without it. The same man that
will then cry, ' Mercy, mercy — O mercy, Lord, to a
departing soul, that is laden witli sin, and trembleth
under the fear of thy judgment,' is now perhaps an
enemy to serious, earnest prayer, and hates the fami-
lies and persons that most use it; or at least is pray-
erless, or cold and dull himself in his desires, and
can shut up all with a few careless, customary words,
and feel no pinching necessity to awaken him, im-
portunately to cry and strive with God. Doth not
all this show, that men are befooled by prosperity,
and unacquainted with themselves, till danger or
calamity call them to the bar, and force them better
to know themselves.

Your mutability proveth your ignorance and mis-
takes. If indeed your case be now as good as pre-
sent confidence or security do import, lament it not
E 3

lOG

in your adversity; fear it not when tleatli is calling
you to the har of the impartial Jutigc. Cry not out
then of your ungodliness and sensuality ; of your
trifling hypocrisy, your slight contemptuous thoughts
of God, and of your casting away your hopes of
heaven, by wilful negligence and delays. If you are
sure that you are now in the right, and diligent,
serious believers in the wrong, then stand to it be-
fore the Lord. Set a good face on your cause if it
be good; be not down in the mouth when it is tried;
God will do you no wrong: if your cause be good,
he will surely justify you, and will not mar it. Wish
not to die the dearth of the righteous; say not to
them, " Give us of-your oil, for our lamps are gone
out." If all their care, and love, and labour, in
" seeking first the kingdom of God and its righteous-
ness," be a needless thing, wish not for it in your
extremity, but call it needless then. If fervent
prayer may be spared now while prayer may be heard,
and a few lifeless words that you have learned by
rote may serve the turn, then call not on God when
answering is past, seek him not when he will not be
found. " When your fear cometh as desolation,
and your destruction as a whirlwind; when distress
and anguish come upon you," cry not, " Lord, Lord,
open unto us, when the door is shut." Call them
not foolish then that slept, but them that watched, if
Christ was mistaken, and you are in the right.

O sirs, stand but at the bedside of one of these
ungodly, careless men, and hear what he saith of
his former life, of his approaching change, of a holy
or carnal course, whether a heavenly or worldly life
is better, (unless God have left him to that de-

107

plorable stupidity which an hour's time will put an
end to); hearken then whether he think that God
or the world, heaven or earth, soul or body, be more
worthy of man's chief care and diligence; and then
judge whether such men did know themselves in
their health and pride, v/hen all this talk would have
been derided by them as too precise, and such a life
accounted over-strict and needless, as then they are
approving and wishing they had lived. When that
minister or friend should once have been taken for
censorious, abusive, self-conceited, and unsufFerable,
that would have talked of them in that languaije as
when death approacheth, they talk of themselves;
or would have spoken as plainly, and hardly of them,
as they will then do of themselves. Doth not this
mutability show, how few men now have a true know-
ledge of themselves ?

What is the repentance of the living, and tlie
desperation of the damned, but a declaration that
the persons repenting and despairing, were unac-
quainted with themselves before ? Indeed the er-
roneous despair of men, while grace is offered them,
comes from ignorance of the mercy of God, and
willingness of Christ to receive all that are willing
to return. But yet the sense of sin and misery,
that occasioneth this erroneous despair, doth show
that men were before erroneous in their presumption
and self-esteem, Saith Bernard, " Both the know-
ledge of God and of thyself is necessary to salva-
tion ; because, as from the knowledge of thyself, the
fear of God cometh into thee, and love from the
knowledge of God : so, on the contrary, from the
ignorance of thyself cometh pride ; and from the
ignorance of God comes desperation."

108

Poor men that must confess their sin and misery
at last, would show a more seasonable acquaintance
with themselves, if they would do it now, and say,
with the prodigal, " I will arise and go to my father,
and say to him. Father, I have sinned against hea-
ven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be
called thy son." In time, this knowledge and con-
fession may be saving. Even a Seneca could say,
without the Scripture, " The knowjedge of sin is the
beginning of recovery (or health): for he that knows
not that he sinneth, will not be corrected. Reprehend
thyself, therefore, as much as thou canst. Inquire
into thyself: first play the part of an accuser, then
of a judge : and lastly, of one that asketh pardon."

It is not because men are innocent or safe, that
we now hear so little confession or complaint; but
because they are sinful and miserable in so great a
measure, as not to know or feel it. Saith Seneca,
"Why doth no man confess his vices ? Because
he is yet in them. To tell his dreams is the part
of a man that is awake : and to confess his faults, is
a sign of health." If you call a poor man rich, or
a deformed person beautiful, or a vile, ungodly per-
son virtuous, or an ignorant barbarian learned, will
not the hearers think you do not know them ? And
how should they think better of your knowledge of
yourselves, if any of you that are yet in the flesh,
will say you are spiritual ? And those that hate
the holiness, and justice, and government of God,
will say they love him ? Or those that are in a state
of enmity to God, are as near to hell as the execu-
tion is to the sentence of the law, will persuade them-
selves and others, that they are the members of

log

Christ, the children of God, and the heirs of hea-
ven ? And take it ill of any that would question it,
though only to persuade them to make it sure, and
to take heed what they trust to, when endless joy
or misery must be the issue !

7. Doth it not manifest how little men know
themselves, when in every suffering that befals them,
they overlook the cause of all within them, and fall
upon others, or quarrel with every thing that standeth
in their way ? Their contempt of God doth cast
them into some affliction, and they quarrel with the
instruments, and meddle not with the mortal cause
at home. Their sin finds them out, and testifieth
against them ; and they are angry with the rod, and
repine at providence, as though God himself were
more to be suspected of the cause than they : yea,
it is become with many, a serious doubt, whether
God doth not necessitate them to sin; and, whether
they omit not duty merely because he will not give
them power to perform it; and, whether their sin
be any other than a relation unavoidably resulting
from a foundation laid by the hand pf God himself.
Do men know tliemselves, that will sooner suspect
and blame the most righteous, holy God, than their
own unrighteous, carnal hearts? " Man drinketh up
iniquity like water, but there is no unrighteousness
with God." And is not such a frail and sinful wight,
more likely to be the cause of sin than God? and
to be culpable in all the ill that doth bcfal us?

And it shows, that men little know themselves,
when all their complaints are poured out more
fluently on others than themselves : like sick sto-
machs, that find fault with every dish, when the

110

fault is within tlicm. If tlicy want peace, content,
or rest, they lay the blame on this place or that, this
or that person or estate; they think if they had their
mind in this or that, they siiould be well : and there-
fore they are still contriving for somewhat which
they want, and studying changes, or longing after
this or that, which they imagine would work the
cure: when, alas, poor souls, the sin, the sickness,
the want is in themselves ! It is a wiser mind, a
better, more holy, heavenly will, that is wanting to
them ; without which nothing in the world will
solidly content and comfort them. Did you know
yourselves in all your griefs, it is there that you
would suspect and find your malady, and there that
you would most solicitously seek the cure.

By this time, if you are willing, you may see
where lieth the disease and misery of the world,
and also what must be the cure, Man hath lost
himself, by seeking himself; he hath lost himself in
the loss of God: he departed from God, that he
might enjoy himself; and so is estranged from God
and himself. He left the sun, and retired into
darkness, that he might behold himself, and not the
liaht : and now beholdeth neither himself nor the
light; for he cannot behold himself but by the light.
As if the body should forsake the soul, and say, I
will no longer serve another, but will be my own.
What would such a selfish separation procure, but
the converting of a body into a loathsome carcass,
and a senseless clod.'' Thus hath the soul dejected
itself, by turning to itself, and separating from God;
without whom it hath neither life, nor light, nor
joy. By desiring a selfish kind of knowledge of

Ill

good and evil, withdrawing from its just dependence
upon God, it hath involved itself in care and misery,
and lost the quieting, delighting knowledge which
it had in God. And now poor man is lost in
error : he is straggled so far from home, that he
knowet^i not where he is, nor which way to return,
till Christ in mercy seek and save him.

Yet could we but get men to know that they do not
know themselves, there were the greater hope of their
recovery. But this is contrary to the nature of their
distemper. An eye that is blinded by a suffusion
or cataract, seeth not the thing that blindeth it : it
is the same light that must siiovv them themselves,
and their ignorance of themselves. Their self-
ignorance is part of the evil which they have to
know. Those troubled souls that complain that
they know not themselves, do show that they begin
at least to know themselves. But a Pharisee will
say, "Are we blind also?" They are too blind to
know that they are blind. The Gospel shall be
rejected, the apostles persecuted, Christ himself
abused and put to death, the nation ruined, them-
selves and their posterity undone, by the blindness
of these hypocrites, before they will perceive that
they arc blind, and that they know not God or
themselves. Alas ! the long calamities of the church,
the distempers and confusions in the state, the la-
mentable divisions and dissensions among believers,
have told the world, how little most men know them-
selves ; and yet they themselves will not perceive it.
They tell it aloud to all about them, by their self-
conceitedness and cruelty, uncharitable censures, re-
proaches, and impositions, that they know not them-

112

selves, and yet you cannot make them know it.
Their afflicted hrethren feci it to their smart ; tlie
suffering, grieved churches tee! it; thousands groan
under it, that never wronged them ; and yet you
cannot make them feel it.

Did they well know themselves to be men, so
many would not use themselves like beasts, and care
so little for their most noble part. Did they know
themselves aright to be but men, so many would
not set up themselves as gods ; they would not ar-
rogate a divine authority in the matters of God, and
the consciences of otliers, as the Roman prelates do:
nor would they desire so much that the observation,
reverence, admiration, love, and applause, of all that
should be turned upon them ; nor be so impatient
when they seem to be neglected; nor make so great
a matter of their wrongs, as if it were some deity
that were injured.

O what a change it would make in the world, if
men were brought to the knowledge of themselves !
How many would weep, that now laugh, and live in
mirth and pleasure ! How many would lament
their sin and misery, that now are pharisaically con-
fident of their integrity ! How many would seek
to faithful ministers for advice, and inquire what
they should do to be saved, that now deride them,
and scorn their counsel, and cannot bear their plain
reproof, or come not near them I How many would
ask directions for the cure of their unbelief, and
pride, and sensuality, that now take little notice of
any such sins within them ! How many would cry
day and night for mercy, and beg importunately for
the life of their immortal souls, that now take up

113

with a few words of course, instead of serious, fer-
vent prayer ! Do but once know yourselves aright,
know what you are, and what you have done, what
you want, and what is your danger; and then be
prayerless and careless if you can ; then sit still and
trifle out your time, and make a jest of holy dili-
gence, and put God off with lifeless words and com-
pliments if you can. Men could not think so lightly
and contemptuously of Christ, so unworthily and
falsely of a holy life, so delightfully of sin, so care-
lessly of duty, so fearlessly of hell, so senselessly
and atheistically of God, and so disregardfully of
heaven as they now do, if they did but thoroughly
know themselves.

And now, sirs, methinks your consciences should
begin to stir, and your thoughts should be turned
inwards upon yourselves, and you should seriously
consider what measure of acquaintance you have at
home, and what you have done to procure ai.d main-
tain such acquaintance. Hath conscience no use to
make of this doctrine, and of all that hath been said
upon it? Doth it not reprove you for your self-ne-
glect, and your wanderings of mind, and your alien,
unnecessary fruitless cogitations ? Had you been but
as strange to your familiar friend, and as regardless
of his acquaintance, correspondence, and affairs, as
too many of you have been of your own, you may
imagine how he would have taken it, and what use
he would have made of it : some such use it be-
seemeth you to make of estrangedness to yourselves.
Would not he ask, " What is the matter that my
friend so seldom looketh at me; and no more mind-
eth me or my affairs? What have 1 done to him ?

114

How have I deserved this? What more beloved
company or employment hath he got ?" You have
this and mucli more to plead against your great
neglect aud ignorance of yourselves.

CHAPTER IV.

Motives to Self- Acquaintance,

In order to your conviction and reformation, I
shall first show you some of those reasons, that
should move you to know yourselves, and conse-
quently should humble you for neglecting it: and
then I shall show you what are the hinderances that
keep men from self-acquaintance, and give you some
directions necessary to attain it.

In general consider, it is by the light of know-
ledge that all the affairs of your souls must be di-
rected: and therefore, while you know not yourselves,
you are in tlie dark, and unfit to manage your own
affairs. Your principal error about yourselves will
influence all the transactions of your lives; you will
neglect the greatest duties, and abuse and corrupt
those which you think you do perform. While
you know not yourselves, you know not what you
do, nor what you have to do, and therefore can do
nothing well. For instance,

I. When you should repent of sin, you know it
not as in j^ourselves, and therefore cannot savingly
repent cf it. If you know in general that you are
sinners, or know your gross and crying sins, which

115

conscience cannot overlook, yet the sins which you
know not, because you will not know them, may
condemn you. How can you repent of your pride,
hypocrisy, self-love, self-seeking, your want of love,
and fear, and trust in God, or any such sins, which
you never did observe? Or if you perceive some
sins, yet if you perceive not that they reign and are
predominant, and that you are in a state of sin, how
can you repent of that state which you perceive
not? Or if you have but a slight and superficial
sight of your sinful state and your particular sins,
you can have but a superficial, false repentance.

2. If you know not yourselves, you cannot be
duly sensible of your misery. Could it be expected
that the Pharisees should lament, that they were of
their father the devil, as long as they boasted that
they were the children of God ? Will they lament
that they are under the wrath of God, the curse of
the law, and the bondage of the devil, that know
not of any such misery that they are in, but hope
they are the heirs of heaven ? What think you is
the reason, that when Scripture telleth us that few
shall be saved, and none at all but those that are
new creatures, and have the Spirit of Christ, that
yet there is not one of many that is sensible that the
case is theirs ? Though Scripture peremptorily
concludeth, " That they that are in the flesh cannot
please God," and that " to be carnally minded is
death," and that " without holiness none shall see
God," and that all " they shall be damned that be-
lieve not the truth, but have pleasure in unrigh-
teousness," and that *' Christ will come in flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God,

IIG

and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting de-
struction, from the presence of the Lord, and the
glory of his power, when he shall come to be glo-
rified in his saints, and admired in all them that be-
lieve." And would not a man think that such
words as these should waken the guilty soul that
believes them; and make us all to look about us?
I confess it is no wonder, if a flat atheist or infidel
should slight them and deride them. But is it not
wonder if they stir not those, that profess to believe
the word of God, and are the men of whom these
Scriptures speak? And yet among a thousand that
are thus condemned already; (1 say, by the word,
that is the rule of judgment, even condemned al-
ready; for so God saith, John iii. 18.) how few
shall you see, that with penitent tears lament their
misery ! How few shall you hear, with true re-
morse, complain of their spiritual distress, and cry
out as those that were pricked at the heart, " Men
and brethren what shall we do?" How few hearts
are affected with so miserable a case ! Do you see
by the tears, or hear by the complaints, of those
about you, that they know what it is, to be unpar-
doned sinners, under the wrath of the most holy
God? And what is the matter that there is no
more such lamentation ? Is it because there are
few or none so miserable? Alas! no: the Scrip-
ture, and their worldly, fleshly, and ungodly lives,
assure us of the contrary. But it is because men
are strangers to themselves : they little think that it
is themselves, that all the terrible threatenings of
God do mean. Most of them little believe or con-

117

sider what Scripture saith ; but fewer consider what
conscience hath to say within, when once it is
awakened, and the curtain is drawn back, and the
light appeareth. Did all that read and hear the
Scriptures know themselves, I will tell you how
they would hear and read it. When the Scriptures
saith, " To be carnally minded is death;" and " If
ye live after the flesh ye shall die;" the guilty man
would say, I am carnally minded : and I live after
the flesh : therefore I must turn or die. When
Scripture saith, " Where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also;" the guilty conscience
would assume, my heart is not in heaven, therefore
my treasure is not there. When Scripture saith,
" Except ye be converted and become as little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven," and " Except a man be regenerate and
born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God;" and " If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature: -old things are passed away,
behold all things are become new ;" and " If any
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
his;" — the guilty man would assume, I was never
thus converted, regenerate, born again, and made a
new creature : I have not the Spirit of Christ :
therefore I am none of his, and cannot enter into
the kingdom of heaven, till this change be wrought
upon me. When the Scripture saith, *' Whore-
mongers and adulterers God will judge;" — the
guilty man would say. How then shall I be able to
stand before him ?

Yea, did but men know themselves, they would
perceive their danger from remoter principles, that

118

mention the dealing of God with others. When
they hear of the judgment of God upon the un-
godly, and the enemies of the church, they would
say, " Except I repent, I shall likewise perish."
When they hear that "judgment must begin at the
house of God," they would infer, " What shall be
the end of them that obey not the Gospel of God?"
And when they hear that " the righteous are
scarcely saved," they would think, " Where then
shall the ungodly and sinner appear?"

3. If you know not yourselves, you cannot be
Christians: you cannot have a practical belief in
Christ; for he is offered to you in the Gospel, as
the remedy for your misery ; as the ransom for your
enthralled souls; as the propitiation for your sin,
and your peace-maker with the Father; without
whose merit, satisfaction, righteousness, and inter-
cession, your guilty souls can have no hope. And
can you savingly value him in these respects, if you
know not that sin and misery, that guilt and thral-
dom, in which your need of Christ consisteth ?
Christ is esteemed by you according to the judg-
ment you pass upon yourselves.

They that say they are sinners, from a general
brain-knowledge, will accordingly say, Christ is their
Saviour and their hope, with a superficial belief ; and
will honour him with their lips, witii all the titles
belonging to the Redeemer of the world; but they
that feel that they are deadly sick of sin at the very
heart, and are lost for ever if he do not save them,
will feel what the name of a Saviour signifieth; and
will look to him, as the Israelites to the brazen
serpent, and will yield up themselves to be saved by

119

hiai, in his way. An ineffectual knowledge of your-
selves, may make you believe in a Redeemer, as all
the city do of a learned, able physician, that will
speak well of his skill, and resolve to use him when
necessity constraineth them ; but at present they
find no such necessity. But an effectual sight and
sense of your condition, will bring you to Christ;
as a man in a dropsy or consumption comes to the
physician, that feels he must have help, or die.
Saith Bernard, " You will not take the Son of God
for a Saviour, if you be not affrighted by his threat-
enings." And if you perceive not that you are lost,
you will not heartily thank him that came to seek and
save you. Will you seek to him to fetch you from
the gates of hell, that find not that you are there?

But to the self-condemning soul, that knoweth
itself, how welcome would a Saviour be! How
ready is such a soul for Christ ! Thou that judgest
thyself, art the person that must come to Christ to
justify thee. Now thou art ready to be healed by
liim, when thou findest that thou art sick, and dead.
Hast thou received the sentence of death in thyself?
Come to him now, and thou shalt have life. Art
thou weary and heavy laden ? Come to him for rest :
come, and fear not ; for he bids thee come. Dost
thou know, that " thou hast sinned against heaven
and before God, and art not worthy to be called a
son ?" Do but cast thyself, then, at his feet, and
tell him so, and ask forgiveness; and try whether he
will not welcome and embrace thee, pardon and en-
tertain thee, clothe thee and feast thee, and rejoice
over thee, as one that " vvas lost and is found; was
dead and is alive." For, " he came to seek and
to save that which was lost." While thou saidst,

no

" I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need
of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked :"
thou vvouldst not " buy the tried gold that thou
mightest be rich ; nor his white raiment that thou
mightest be clothed, that the shame of thy naked-
ness might not appear; nor Christ's eye-salve, that
t-liou mightest see." But now thou art poor in
spirit; and findest that thou art nothing, and hast
nothing, and of thyself canst do nothing, that is
acceptably good; and that of thyself thou art insuf-
ficient to think any thing that is good ; now thou art
readier for the help of Christ, and a patient fit for
the tender healing hand of the physician. Whilst
thou saidst, " God, I thank thee that I am not as
other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, nor
as this publican," thou wast farther from Christ and
justification, than now that thou standest as afar off,
and darest scarcely look up to heaven, but smitest
on thy breast, and sayest, " Lord, be merciful to
me a sinner." Not that extortioners, unjust, adul-
terers, or any that are ungodly, are justified, or can
be saved, while they are such: not that a smiting on
the breast, with a " Lord be merciful to me a sin-
ner," will serve their turn, while they continue in
their wicked lives; but when thou art brought to
accuse and condemn thyself, thou art prepared for
his grace that must renew and justify thee. None
sped better with Christ, than the woman that con-
fessed herself a dog, and begged but for the chil-
dren's crumbs; and the centurion that sent friends
to Christ, to mediate for him, as being unworthy to
come himself, and unworthy that Christ should come
under his roof. For, of the first, Christ said, " O

woman, great is thy faith : bo it unto thee even as
thou wilt;" and of the second, hesaith, with admira-
tion, " I have not found so great faith, no, not in
Israel." Though tlioii art ready to deny the title
of a child, and to number thyself with the dogs, yet
go to him, and beg his crumbs of mercy. Though
thou think that Christ will not come to such a one
as thou, and though thou beg prayers of others, as
thinking he will not hear thy own, thou little think-
est, how this self-abasement and self-denial prepar-
eth thee for his tenderest mercies, and his esteem.
When thou art contrite (as the dust that is trodden
under feet), and poor, and tremblest at the word,
then will he look at thee with compassion and re-
spect. " For thus saith the high and lofty One that
inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in
the high and holy place : with him also that is of a
contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the
humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones :
for I will not contend for ever, neither will I be al-
ways wroth ; for tiie spirit should fail before me, and
the souls which I have made." When thou art
using the self-condemning words of Paul, " I am
carnal, sold under sin : wiiat I would, that I do not;
and what I h;ite, that do I. For 1 know that in me,

(that is, in my flesh) dwclleth no good thing

I find a law, that, when I would do good, evil is pre-
sent with me . A law in my members warring

against the law of my mind, and bringing me into

captivity to the law of sin ," when thou cricst

out with him, " O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of tliis death ;" thou
art then fitter to look to thy Redeemer, and use the
• F 4j

122

following words, " I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord." When thou didst exalt thyself",
thou wast obnoxious to the storms of justice, which
was engaged to bring thee low : but now thou hum-
blest thyself, thou liest in the way of mercy, that is
engaged to exalt thee. Mercy looketh downward,
and can quickly spy a sinner in the dust ; but cannot
leave him there, nor deny him compassion and relief.
Art thou cast out as helpless, wounded by thy sin,
and neglected by all others that pass by? Thou art
the fittest object for the skill and mercy of Him that
washeth sinners in his blood, and tenderly bindeth
up their wounds, and undertakes the perfecting of
the cure, though yet thou must bear the surgeon's
hand, till his time of perfect cure be come. Now
thou perceivest the greatness of thy sin and misery,
thou art fit to study the greatness of his mercy ; and
with all saints (to strive) " to comprehend what is
the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and
to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge."
Now thou hast " smitten upon the thigh," and said,
" What have I done?" thou art fitter to look upon
him that was wounded and smitten for thy transgres-
sions, and to consider what he hath done, and suf-
fered : how he " hath borne thy grief and carried
thv sorrows, and was bruised for thy iniquities; the
chastisement of our peace was laid upon him, and we
are healed by his stripes: all we like sheep have
gone astray : we have turned every one to his own
way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of
us all." Art thou in doubt whether there be any
forgiveness for thy sins; and whether there be any
place for repentance? Remember that Christ 'a

123

*' exalted by God's right hand to be a Prince and a
Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel, and forgive-
ness of sins." And that he himself hath spoken it,
that " all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be for-
given unto men, except the blasphemy against the
Spirit." And this forgiveness of sins thou art
bound to believe as an article of thy creed: that it is
purchased by Christ, and freely offered in the Gos-
pel. Mercy did but wait all this while, till thou
wast brought to understand the want and worth of
it, that it might be thine. When a Peter, that de-
nieth Christ with oaths and cursing, goeth out and
weepeth, he speedily finds mercy from him without,
that he but now denied within. When so bloody a
|)ersecutor as Paul findeth mercy, upon his prostra-
tion and confession ; and when so great an offender
as Manasseh is forgiven upon his penitence, in bonds;
when all his witchcraft, idolatry, and cruelties are
pardoned, upon a repentance that might seem to have
been forced by a grievous scourge ; what sinner,
that perceives his sin and misery, can question his
entertainment if he come to Christ. Come to him,
sinner, with tliy load and burden; come to him with
all thy acknowledged uiiworthiness : and try whether
he will refuse tiiee. He hath professed that "him
that Cometh to him he will in nowise cast out." He
refused not his very murderers, when they were
pricked at the heart, and inquired after a remedy ;
and will he refuse thee ? Hath our Physician
poured out his blood to make a medicine for dis-
tracted sinners ; and now is he unwilling to work the
cure? O sinner! now thou art brought to know
thyself, know Christ also, and the cure is done. Let
F 2

lliv lliouglits of tl)e remedy be deciicr, and larger,
and longer, than all tliy thoughts of thy misery :
it is thy sill and shame if it he not so. Why wilt
thou have twenty thoughts of sin and misery, for
one that thou hast of Christ and mercy? when
mercy is so large, and great, and wonderful as to
triumph over misery : and grace aboundeth much
more where sin hath abounded. Saith Augustine,
"Behold the wounds of Christ as he is hanging;
the blood of him dying, the price of him redeeming,
the scars of him rising. His head is bowed to kiss
thee; his heart open to love thee; his arms open to
embrace thee ; his whole body exposed to redeem
thee."

Saith Augustine, " The Maker of man was made
man ; that he might suck the breasts that rules the
stars ; that bread might hunger ; the spring (or foun-
tain) might thirst ; the light might sleep ; the way
might be weary in his journey ; that the truth might
be hidden by false witnesses ; that the Judge of
quick and dead might be judged by a mortal judge:
justice might be condemned by the unjust ; disci-
pline might be scourged ; the cluster of grapes might
be crowned with thorns; the foundation might be
hanged on a tree ; that strength might be weakened :
that health might be wounded ; and that life itself
might die." This is the wonderful mystery of love,
which will entertain the soul that comes to Christ,
and which thou must study to know when thou
knowest thyself. But till then all these will be rid-
dles to thee, or little relished : and Christ will seem,
to thy neglecting heart, to have died and done all
this in vain.

125

And hence it is, that as proud, ungodly, sensual
men, were never sound believers, so they ofttinies
fall from that opiiiionative common faith which they
had, and of all men do most easily turn apostates : it
being just with God, that they should be so far for-
saken as to vilify the remedy, that would not know
their sin and misery, but love it, and pertinaciously
hold it, as their felicity !

4. If you know not yourselves, you will not know
what to do with yourselves, nor to what end, and for
what work you are to live. This makes the holy
work neglected, and most men live to little purpose,
wasting their days in matters that themselves will
call impertinent, when they come to die; as if they
were good for nothing else: whereas, if they knew
themselves, they would know that tiiey are made and
fitted for more noble works. O man, if thou wcrt
acquainted well with thy faculties and frame, thou
wouldst perceive the name of Gud thy Maker, to he
so deeply engraven in thy nature, even in all thy
parts and powers, as should convince thee that thou
wast made for him ; that all thou art, and all thou
hast, is nothing worth, but for his service : as all the
parts and motions of a clock, or watch, are but to tell
the hour of the day. Thou wouldst know then the
meaning of sanctification and holiness; that it signi-
fieth but the giving God his own, and is the first
part of justice, without which no rendering men their
due can prove thee just. Thou wouldst then know
the unreasonableness and injustice of ungodliness
and all sin : and that to serve thy fleshly lusts and
pleasures, with those noble faculties, that were pur-
posely formed to love and serve the eternal God, is

126

absurd and villanous. O man, didst thou but know
thyself, and for what employment thy faculties are
made, thou wouldst lift up thy head, and seriously
think, who holds the reins ? who keeps the breath
yet in thy nostrils, and continueth thee in life ? and
where it is that thou must shortly fix thy unchange-
able abode ; and what is now to be done in prepara-
tion for such a day ? Thou wouldst know that thy
higher faculties were not made to serve the lower :
thy reason to serve thy sensual delights. O man !
hadst thou not lost the knowledge of thyself, thou
wouldst be so far from wondering at a holy life, that
thou wouldst look upon an unholy person as a mon-
ster.

I confess, my soul is too apt to lose its lively sense
of all these things ; but whenever it is awake, I am
ibrced to say, in these kind of meditations, If I
had not a God, to know and think on, to love and
honour, to seek and serve, what had I to do with
my understanding, will, and all my powers ? What
should I do with life and time? What use should
I make of God's provisions? What could J find to
do in the world, that is worthy of a man ? Were
it not as good to lie still, and sleep out my days, and
professedly do nothing, as to go dreaming, with a
seemine seriousness, and wander about the world as
in my sleep, and do nothing with such a troublesome
stir, as sensual, worldly persons do ? Could not I
have lived as a beast, without a reasonable, free-
working soul ? Let them turn from God, and
neglect the conduct of the Redeemer, and disregard
the holy approaches, and breathings, and workings
of the soul towards its beloved centre and felicity,

127

that know not what an immortal soul is, or know
how else to employ their faculties, with satisfaction
or content to themselves. I profess here, as in his
presence, that is the Father of spirits, and before
angels and men, I do not, I know not, what else to
do with ray soul that is worth the doing, but what is
subservient to its proper object, its end and ever-
lasting rest. If the holy service of God, and the
preparation for heaven, and seeking after Christ and
happiness, be forbidden me, I have no more to do in
the world, that will satisfy my reason, or satisfy my
affections, or that, as a man or a Christian, I can
own. And it is as good not to live, as to be de-
prived of the uses and ends of life. Though my
love and desires are infinitely below the Eternal
goodness, and glory, which they should prosecute
and embrace, yet do my little tastes and dull desires,
and cold affections consent, unfeignedly, to say. Let
me have God or nothing: let me know him and his
will, and what will please him, and how I may enjoy
him : or, O that I never had an understanding to
know any thing ! Let me remember him ; or, O
that I had never had a memory ! Let me love him,
and be beloved of him ; or, O that I never had such
a thing as love within me ! Let me hear his teach-
ings, or have no ears ; let me serve him with my
riches, or let me have none ; and with any interest or
honour, or let me be despised. It is nothing that
he gives not being to ; and it is useless that is not
for his glory and his will. If God have nothing to
do with me, I have nothing to do with myself, and
the world hath nothing to do with me.

Let dark and dreaming sinners declare their

128

shame, ami speak evil of what they never knew, anti
neglect the good they never saw ; let them that
know not themselves or God, refuse to give up
themselves to God, and think a life of sensuality
more suitable to them. But " Lord lift thou up the
light of thy countenance on me," and let me no
longer be a man, nor have reason, or any of thy ta-
lents in my trust, if I shall not be thine, and live to
thee. I say as Bernard, " Worthy is that man, O
Christ, to die, that refuseth to live to thee : and he

' that is not wise to thee, is but a fool; and he that car-
eth to he, unless it be for lliee, is good for nothing,
and is nothing. For thyself, O God, hast thou made
all things ; and he that would be to himself, and not
to thee, among all things, beginneth to be nothing."

5. If you know not yourselves, you know not
how to apply the vvord of Gpd, which you read or
hear; you know not how to use either promises or
threatenings, to the benefit of your souls: nay, you
will misapply them to your hurt. If you are unre-
generate, and know it not, you will put by all the
calls of God, that invite you to come and be con-
verted, and think that they belong to grosser sinners,
but not to you. All the descriptions of the un-
sanctified and their misery, will little affect you; and
all God's threatenings to such will little move you ;

- for you will think they are not meant of you; you
will be pharisaically blessing yourselves, when you
should be pricked at the heart, and laid in contrition
at the feet of Christ: you will be thanking God that
you are not such as indeed you are; you will be
making application of the threatenings to others, and
pitying them when you should lament yourselves;

129

you will be thundering when you should be trem-
bling; and speaking that evil of others that is your
own; and convincing others of that which you had
need to be convinced of; and wakening others by
talking in your sleep; and calling other men hypo-
crites, proud, self-conceited, ignorant, and other
such names that are indeed your own : you will read
or hear your own condemnation, and not be moved
at it, as not knowing your own description when you
hear it, but thinking that this thunderbolt is levelled
at another sort of men. All the words of peace and
comfort, you will think arc meant of such as you.
When you read of pardon, reconciliation, adoption,
and riglit to everlasting life, you will imagine that
alj these are yours. And thus you will be dreaming
that you are rich and safe, when you are poor and
miserable, and in the greatest peril. And is it not
pity that the celestial, undeceiving light, should be
abused to so dangerous self-deceit ? And that truth
itself should be made the furtherance of so great an
error? And that the eye-salve should more put out
your eyes? Is it not sad to consider, that you
should now be emboldened to presumption, by that
very word which (unless you be converted) will judge
you to damnation ? And that self-deceit should be
increased by the glass of verity that should unde-
ceive you ?

6. If you know not yourselves, you know not how
to confess or pray. This makes men confess their
sins so seldom, and with so little remorse to God
and man; you hide them because they are hidden
from yourselves; and therefore God will open them
to your shame: whereas, if they were opened to vou,
F 3

130

tliey would be opened by you, and covered by God.
Saith Augustine, " I did not cover, but open that
thou mayest cover : I concealed not, that thou
mightest hide. For when man discloseth, God
covereth : when man hideth, God maketh bare :
when man confesseth, God forgiveth." For want
of self-acquaintance it is that men hypocritically
confess to God in way of custom, the sins which
they will deny or excuse to man; and will tell God
formally of much, which they cannot endure to be
told of seriously by a reprover: or, if they confess
it generally with a seeming humility to others, they
cannot bear that another should faithfully charge it
upon them, in order to their true humiliation and
amendment. Saith Bernard, " It is the sign of true
confession, if, as every one saith he is a sinner, he
contradict not another that saith it of him. For he
desireth not to seem a sinner, but righteous, when
one confesseth himself a sinner, when none reproveth
him. It is the vice of pride, for a man to disdain to
have that spoken to him of others, which he stuck
not to confess of his own accord concernincr himself."

And for prayer, it is men's ignorance of themselves
that makes prayer so little in request: hunger best
teacheth men to beg. You would be oftener on
your knees, if you were oftener in your hearts.
Prayer would not seem needless, if you knew your
needs. Know yourselves, and be prayerless if you
can. When the prodigal was convinced, he pre-
sently purposeth to confess and pray. "When Paul
was converted, Ananias hath this evidence of it from
God, " Behold he prayeth." Indeed the mward
part of prayer, is the motion of a returning soul to

131

God. Saith Hugo, " Prayer is the turning of a
pious, humble soul to God, leaning upon faith, hope,
and love. It is the relief of the petitioner, the
sacrifice of God, the scourge of devils."

And self-knowledge would teach men how to
pray. Your own hearts would be the best prayer-
books to you, if you were skilful in reading them.
Did you see what sin is, and in what relation you
stand to God, to heaven and hell, it would drive
you above your beads and lifeless words of course,
and make you know, that to pray to God for pardon
and salvation, is not the work for a sleepy soul.
Saith Gregory, " He ofiFereth the truest prayer to
God, that knoweth himself, that humbly seeth he
is but dust, and ascribeth not virtue to himself," itc.
Nothing quenchelh prayer more than to be mistaken .
or mindless about ourselves. When we go fiom
home this fire goes out ; but when we return, and
search our hearts, and see the sins, the wants, the
weaknesses, that are there, and perceive the danger
that is before us, and withal the glorious hopes that
are offered us, here is fuel to inflame the soul, and
cure it of its drowsiness and dumbness. Help any
sinner to a clearer light, to sec into his heart and
life, and to a livelier sense of his own condition, and
I warrant you he will be more disposed to fervent
prayer, and will better understand the meaning of
those words, " That men ought always to pray and
not to faint;" and " pray without ceasing." You
may hear some impious persons now disputing
against frequent and fervent prayer, and saying,
" What need all this ado?" But if you were able
to open these men's eyes, and show them what is

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within them and before them, you would quickly
answer all tlicir arguments, and convince them better
than words can do, and put an end to the dispute.
You would set all the prayerless families in town
and country, gentlemen's and poor men's, on fervent
calling upon God, if you could but help them to
such a sight of their sin and danger, as shortly the
stoutest of them must have. Why do they pray,
and call for prayers, when they come to die, but
that tliey begin a little better to know themselves?
They see then that youth, and health, and honour,
are not th.c things, nor make thern so happy, as de-
ceiving prosperity once persuaded them. Did they
believe and consider what God saith of them, and
not what flattery and self-love say, it would open
the mouths of them that are most speechless. But
those that are born deaf are always dumb. How
can they speak that language with desire to God,
which they never learned by faith from God, or by
knowledge of themselves ?

And self-knowledge would teach men what to
ask. They would feel most need of spiritual mer-
cies, and beg hardest for them; and for outward
things, they would ask but for their daily bread,
and not be foolishly importunate with God for that
which they know not to be suitable or good for
them. " It is mercy to be denied sometimes when
we pray for outward things: our physician, and not
we, must choose our physic, and prescribe our diet."
And if men knew themselves, it would teach them
on what terms to expect the hearing of their prayers.
Neither to be accepted for their. merits, nor yet to
be accepted without that faith, and repentance and

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desire; that seriousness, humility, and sincerity of
heart, which the very nature of prayer to God doth
contain or pre-suppose. " He that nameth the
name of Christ, must depart from iniquity," and
must " wash himself and make him clean, and put
away the evil of his doings from before the eyes of
God, and cease to do evil, and learn to do well."
As knowing that though a Simon Magus must repent
and pray, and the " wicked, in forsaking his way,
and thoughts, and returning to the Lord, must seek
him while he may be found, and call upon him while
he is near;" and the prayers of an humble publican
are heard, when he sets his prayer against his sins:
yet if he would cherish his sin by prayer, and flatter
himself into a presumption and security in a wicked
life, because he useth to ask God forgiveness : if he
thus " regard iniquity in his heart, God will not
hear his prayers;" and " we know tiiat such im-
penitent sinners God heareth not." And thus the
prayers of the wicked, as wicked, (which are not a
withdrawing from his wickedness, but a bolster of his
security, and as a craving of protection and leave to
sin) are hut " an abomination to the Lord," The
bullet, the thorn must be first got out, before any me-
dicine can heal their wounds. Did men know them-
selves, and who they have to do with in their prayers,
they would not go from cards, and dice, and glut-
tony, and fornication, and railing, lying, or reviling at
the servants of the Lord, to a few hypocritical words
of prayer, to salve all till the next time, as if one
sin had procured the forgiveness of another. Nor
would they shut up a day of worldliness, ambition,
sensuality, or profaneness, with a few heartless words

134.

of confession and supplication ; or with the words of
penitence, while their hearts are impenitent ; as if,
when they have abused God by sin, they would
make him amends, or reconcile him by their mockery.
Nor would they think to be accepted by praying for
that which they would not have ; for holiness, when
they hate it, and for deliverance from the sins which
they would not be delivered from, and would not
have their prayers granted.

7. If you know not yourselves, it will unfit you
for thanksgiving: your greatest mercies will be least
esteemed; and the lesser will be misesteemed. And
while you are unthankful for what you have, you
will be absurdly thanking God for that which indeed
you have not. What inestimable mercies are daily
trodden under feet by sinners, that know not their
worth, because they know not their own necessities!
They have time to repent, and make preparation for
an endless life : but they know not the worth of it,
but unthankfully neglect it, and cast it away on the
basest vanities : as if worldly cares, or wicked
company, or fleshly lusts, or cards, or dice, or revel-
lings, or idleness, were exercises in which they
might better improve it, than the works of holiness,
justice, and mercy, which God hath made the busi-
ness of their lives : or, as if the profits, and plea-
sures, and vainglory of this world, did better deserve
it than their Creator, and their own souls, and the
heavenly inheritance. But if their eyes were opened
to see where they stand, and what they are, and
what are their dangers and necessities, how thankful
would they be for one year, one month, one day,
one hour, to repent and cry to God for mercy ! And

135

how sensibly would they perceive that a hundred
years' time is not too long to spend in serious pre-
paration for eternity !

They have now the faithful ministers of Christ,
inviting them in his name to come to him and receive
the riches of his grace, and " beseeching them, in
his stead, to be reconciled unto God." But they
stop their ears, and harden their hearts, and stiffen
their necks, and love not to be disturbed in their
sins, but are angry with those that are solicitous for
their salvation, and revile them as too precise and
strict, that tell them of the " one thing needful,"
and persuade them to choose the better part, and
tell them where their sin will leave them. They
take them for their friends that will encourage them
in the way that God condemneth, and be merry with
them in the way to endless sorrow, and flatter them
into security and impenitency till the time of grace
be past; but they hate them as their enemies that
faitlifully reprove them, and tell them of their tolly,
and call them to a safer, better way. Alas, sirs,
there would not be so many nations, congregations,
and souls now left in darkness and misery by their
own doing, having driven away the mercy of the
Gospel, and thrust their faithful teachers from them,
if they knew themselves. Men would not triumph
in their own calamity, when they have expelled their
faithful teachers, (the dust of whose feet, the sweet
of whose brows, the tears of whose eyes, and the fer-
vent prayers and groans of whose hearts must witness
against them,) if they knew themselves. They
would not be like a madman that glorieth that he
hath beaten away his physician and his friends, and

136

is left to himself, if they knew themselves. When
they have the earnest calls of the Word without, and
convictions and urgings of the Spirit of God, and
their consciences within, they would not wilfully go
on, and cast these mercies at their heels, if they
knew themselves.

They have leave to join in the communion of
saints, and to enjoy the benefit of holy society in
prayer, and conference, and mutual love and spiri-
tual assistance, and in the public worship of God :
but they pass these by, as having more of trouble
and burden than of mercy, because they little know
themselves.

And their inferior mercies of health, and wealth,
and food, and raiment, and friends, and accommoda-
tions, they misesteem and misuse; and value them
but as provision for the flesh, and the satisfaction of
their sensual and inordinate desires, and not as ne-
cessary provision for their duty in the way to heaven !
And therefore, they are most thankful for their
greatest snares : for that honour and abundance
which are stronger temptations than they can over-
come: for those fleshly contentments and delights,
which are the enemies of grace, and the prison of
their noblest faculties, and the undoing of their
souls. If they could for shame speak out, they would
thank God more for sensual pleasures, or riches, or
preferment, or lands, or houses, than ever they did
for all the offers of Christ and grace, and all the in-
vitations to a holy life. For there is much more
joy and pleasure in their hearts in the former than
in the latter.

And self-ignorance will also corrupt your thanksr

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giving, and turn it into sin and folly. Is it not
shame and pity to hear an unpardoned enemy of
holiness, and of God, to thank God that he is justi-
fied and reconciled to God, and adopted to be his
child, and made a member of Jesus Christ? And
to hear a carnal, unregenerate person give thanks
for his regeneration and sanctification by the Holy
Ghost? As it is to hear a leper give thanks for
perfect health, or a fool or madman thank God for
making him wiser than his neighbours? Is it not
pity to hear a miserable soul thank God for the grace
which he never had ? and one that is near eternal
misery to thank God for making him an heir of glory?
O how many have thanked God pharisaically for the
pardon of their sins, that must for ever suffer for
those sins! How many have thanked him for giv-
ing them the assured hopes of glory, that must be
thrust out into endless misery! As I have known
many, that by their friends and by themselves have
been flattered into confident hopes of life, when they
were ready to die, have thanked God that they were
pretty well, and the worst was past; which, in the
eyes of judicious standers-by, was not the least ag-
gravation of their sad and deplorable state. Me-
thinks it is one of the saddest spectacles in the world
to hear a man thanking God for the assurance of
salvation, that is in a state of condemnation, and
likely to be in hell for ever ! These absurdities
could not corrupt your highest duties, and turn them
into sin, if you knew yourselves.

A man that knowcth his own necessities and un-
worihinessj is thankful for a little to God and man.
Mercy is as no mercy, where there is no sense of

138

need or misery. Therefore, God useth to humble
them so low in the work of conversion, whom he
meaneth ever after to employ in the magnifying of
his grace. And then that which is folly and hypo-
crisy from a Pharisee, will be an acceptable sacrifice
from an humble, grateful soul; and he that by grace
is difterenced from other men, may (modestly) thank
God that he is not as other men. For had he no-
thing more to thank God for, than the ungodly
world, he would be rejected and perish with the
world: and if he have more than the world, and- yet
be no more thankful than the world, he would be
guilty of greater unthankfulness than the world.
Saith Augustine, " This is not the pride of one
lift up, but the acknowledgment of one that is not
unthankful. Know that thou hast, and know that
thou hast nothing of thyself, that thou mayest nei-
ther be proud, nor yet unthankful. Say to thy
God, I am holy, for thou hast sanctified me: for I
have received what I had not; and thou hast given
me what I deserved not." The thanksgiving of a
faithful soul is so far from being displeasing to God
as a Pharisaical ostentation, that it is a great and
excellent duty, and a most sweet and acceptable
sacrifice. " Offer unto God thanksgiving — He
that oflereth praise glorifieth me."

8. And as to the Lord's Supper, what work they
are there like to make that are unacquainted with
themselves, you may conjecture from the nature of
the work, and the command of self-examination and
self-judging. Though some may be welcomed by
Christ, that have faith and love, though they doubt
of their sincerity, and know not themselves to be

139

children of God ; yet none can be welcome that
know not themselves to be sinners condemned by the
law, and needing a Saviour to reconcile and justify
them. Who will be there humbled, and thankful
for a Redeemer, and hunger and thirst for sacramen-
tal benefits, that knoweth not his own unworthiness-
and necessities ? O what inestimable mercy would
appear in a sacrament to us, in the offers of Christ
and saving grace, and communion with God and with
his saints, if our appetites were but quickened by the
knowledge of ourselves !

9. And I beseech you consider, whether all your
studies, and learning, and employments, be not ir-
rational, preposterous, and impertinent, while you
study not first to know yourselves ? You are near-
est to yourselves, and therefore should be best ac-
quainted with yourselves. What should you more
observe than the case of your own souls? and what
should you know better than what is within you, and
that which methinks you should always feel, — even
the bent of your own estimations and affections, the
sicknesses of your souls, your guilt, your wants, and
greatest necessities? AH your learning is but the
concomitant of your dotage, till you know yourselves.
Your wisest studies are but the workings of a dis-
tracted mind, while you study not yourselves, and
the things of everlasting consequence. To study
whether it be the sun or earth that raoveth, and not
consider what motion is predominant in thy soul and
life, is a pitiful, preposterous study : to tiiink more
what stars are in the firmament, than what grace is
in thy heart; and what planet reigneth, tlian what
disposition reigneth in thyself; and whether the Spi-

110

rit or tlie flesh have the dominion, is but to be
learnedly beside thyself.

Is it not a laborious madness to travel into far
countries, and compass sea and land, to satisfy a cu-
riosity; and to be at so much cost and pains to know
the situation, government, and manners, of the cities
and countries of the world, and in the meantime to
be utterly strange at home, and never bestow one
day or hour in a serious survey of heart and life?
To carry about a dark, unknown, neglected soul,
while they are travelling to know remotest things
that less concern them ? Methinks it is a pitiful
thing, to hear men ingeniously discoursing of the
quality, laws, and customs of other nations, and to
be mute when they should express their acquaintance
with themselves, either in confession and prayer to
God, or in any humble, experimental conference
with men. To keep correspondence with persons of
all degrees, and to have no correspondence with them-
selves. To keep their shop-books and accounts with
diligence, and never regard the book of conscience,
nor keep account of that for which they must ere
long be accountable to God. It is a pitiful thing to
see men turn over voluminous histories, to know
what hath been done from the beginning of the
world, and regard no more the history of their own
lives, nor once look back with penitent remorse upon
their ungodly, careless conversations, nor say, ' What
have we done?' To see men have well-furnished
libraries, and read over a multitude of books, and
never read the state and record of their souls !

It maketh you but objects of wonder and com-
passion, to read laws and records, and understand all

141

cases, and never endeavour to understand the case
of your immortal souls ! To counsel others for their
temporal estates, and never understand your own
spiritual state ! To study the mysteries of nature,
and search into all the Works of God, except your-
selves, and that which your happiness or misery de-
pends on ! To study the nature, and causes, and
signs of bodily diseases, and their several remedies,
and never study the diseases of your own souls, nor
the precious remedy which mercy hath provided you !
To cure the sicknesses of other men's bodies, and
never feel a stony, proud, or sensual heart ! To
know the matters of all arts and sciences, to be able
to discourse of them all to the admiration of the
hearers, is but an aggravation of thy lamentable
folly, if thou be all this while a stranger to thyself,
and thai because thou art mindless of thy soul's con-
dition ! It is more necessary to know yourselves, '
your sin, your duty, your hopes, your dangers, than
to know how to cat, or drink, or clothe yourselves.
Alas ! it is a pitiful kind of knowledge, that will not
keep you out of hell ; and a foolish wisdom, that
teaches you not to save your souls ! Till you know
yourselves, the rest of your knowledge is but a con-
fused dream. Self-knowledge will direct you in all
your studies, and still employ you on that which is
necessary, and will do you good, when others are
studying but unprofitable, impertinent things; and
indeed are but ''• proud, knowing nothing, (when
they seem to excel in knowledge,) but doting about
questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy,
strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of
men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, that

142

take gain for godliness." Self-knowledge will help
you in all your studies. " You will know in what
order, with what study, and to what end every thing
should be known. In what order, that that may go
first, that most promoteth our salvation : to what
end, that it be not for vainglory and ostentation, but
for your own and other men's salvation." — Bernard.

And as it is ourselves and our own affairs that are
nearest to us, and therefore first in order to be
known ; so it is ourselves that we have a special
charge of, and that we are most obliged to study and
to know; and it is our own condition and soul affairs
that most concern us. Though sun, and moon, and
earth, be not little things in themselves; yet the
knowledge of them is a small, inconsiderable matter
to thee, in comparison of the knowledge of thyself.
The words even of Seneca are so pungent on this
subject, that I shall recite some of them, to shame
those professed Christians that are so much short of
a heathen. " What furtherance to virtue is the
enarration of syllables, the diligence of words, the
remembering of fables, and the law and modification
of verses? What of these taketh away fear, and
bridleth concupiscence ? — The geometrician teacheth
me to measure spacious grounds: let him rather
teach me to measure how much is sufficient for a
man. Thou canst measure rounds: if thou be an
artist, la^asiire the mind of man; tell him how great
it is, or how little or low. Thou knowest a straight
line : and what the better art thou if thou know not
what is -right or straight in thy own life? — This
diligent study of the liberal arts, doth make men
troublesome, unseasonable, wordy, self-pleasing, and

143

such as therefore learn not things necessary, be-
cause they have learned things superfluous."

When our nearer, greater works are done, then
those that are more distant will be seasonable, and
useful, and excellent in their proper places. When
men understand the state and affairs of their souls,
and have made sure of their everlasting happiness,
they may then seasonably and wisely manage politi-
cal and economical affairs, and prudently order and
prosecute their temporal concerns: when they " first
seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness,"
subordinate things may be seasonably considered.'
But for a man to be taken up about matters of law,
or trade, or pleasure, when he mindeth not the mat-
ters of his salvation; and to study languages, arts,
and sciences, when he studieth not how to escape
damnation, is not to be learned, but to dote; nor
to be honourably or prudently employed, but to walk
as a man in a dream, and live besides the reason of a
man, as well as below the faith of a Christian. These
seemingly wise and honourable worldlings, that la-
bour not to know what state and relation they stand
in to God, and his judgment, do live in a more per-
nicious distraction than he that is disputing in mood
and figure, while his house is burning over his head.

Even works of charity seem but absurd, prepos-
terous acts, in those that are not charitable to them-
selves. To be careful to feed or clothe the bodies
of the poor, and senseless of the naketJness and
misery of your own souls, is an irrational, distracted
course of mercy : as if a man should be busy to pull
a thorn out of another's finger, and senseless of a
stab that is given himself in the bowels, or at the

144

^ heart. To love yourself, and not your neighbour,
is selfish and uncharitable. To love neither your
neighbour nor yourself, is inhuman. To love your
neighbour and not yourself, is preposterous, irra-
tional, and scarcely possible. But to love first your-
self, (next to God,) and then to love your neighbour
as yourself, is regular, orderly. Christian charity.

10. Consider also, that the ignorance of your-
selves doth much unfit you to be useful to others.
If you are magistrates, you will never be soundly
faithful against the sin of otliers, till you have felt
how hurtful it is to yourselves. If you are ministers,
you will scarcely ever be good at heart-searching
work, till you have searched your own ; nor will you
know the deceitfulness of sin, and the turnings and
windings of the crooked serpent, till you have ob-
served them in yourselves; nor will you have due
compassion on the ignorant, impenitent, ungodly,
unconverted, or on the tempted, weak, disconsolate
souls, till you have learned rightly to be affected
with sin and misery in yourselves. If men see a
magistrate punish offenders, or hear a minister re-
prove them, that is as bad or worse himself, they will
but deride the justice of the one, and reproofs of the
other, as the acts or words of blind partiality or hy-
pocrisy, and accost you with a " Physician, heal
thyself." The eye of the soul is not like the eye of
the body, that can see otiicr things, but not itself.
There are two evils that Christ noteth in the reproofs
of such as are unacquainted with themselves, — hypo-
crisy, and unfitness to reprove. " Why beholdest
thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but con-
siderest not the beam that is in thine own eye ? Or

145

how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the
mote out of thine eye, and behold, abeam is in thine
own eye ? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam
out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly
to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." Thy
own vices do corrupt thy judgment, and cause thee
to excuse the like in others, and to accuse the virtue
that in others is the condemner of thy vice, and to
represent all aS odious that is done by those that by
their piety and reproofs are become odious to thy
guilty and malicious soul. Dost thou hate a holy,
heavenly life, and art void of the love of God, and of
his servants? Hast thou a carnal, dead, unconverted
heart? Art thou a presumptuous, careless, worldly
wretch? Hast thou these beams in thy own eye?
And art thou fit to quarrel with others that are bet-
ter than thyself, about a ceremony, or a holiday, or
a circumstance of church-government or worsliip, or
a doubtful, controverted opinion ? And to be pull-
ing these motes out of thy brother's eye — (yea,
rather wouldst pull out his eyes, to get out the mote)
— first get au illuminated mind, and a renewed,
sanctified heart; be acquainted with the love of God,
and of his image ; and cast out the beam of infidelity,
ungodliness, worldlincss, sensuality, malice, and hy-
pocrisy, from thine own eye ; and then help to cure
him of his lesser involuntary errors and infirmities.
Till then, tlie beam of thy sensuality and impiety
will make thee a very incompetent judge of the mote
of a different opinion in thy brother. Every word
that thou speakest in condemnation of thy brother,
for his opinion or infirmity, is a double condemnation
of thyself for thy ungodly, fleshly life. And if thou
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146

wilt needs have "judgment to begin at the house of
God," for the failings of his sincere and faithful ser-
vants, it may remember thee to thy terror, " what
the end of them shall be that obey not the gospel of
God." And if you will condemn the righteous for
their lamented weaknesses, " Where think you the
ungodly and the sinner shall appear ?"

1 1. If you begin not at yourselves, you can make
no progress to a just and edifying knowledge of ex-
trinsic things. Man's self is the alphabet or primer
of his learning. " In vain doth he lift up his heart
to see God, that is yet unfit to see himself. For
thou must first know the invisible things of thy own
spirit, before thou canst be fit to know the invisible
things of God. And if thou canst not know thy-
self, presume not to know the things that are above
thyself." — Hugo. You caiinot see the face which
it representeth, if you will not look upon the glass
which representeth it. God is not visible, but ap-
peareth to us in his creatures; and especially in our-
selves. And if we know not ourselves, we cannot
know God in ourselves. " The principal glass for
the beholding of God, is the reasonable soul behold-
ing itself." — Hugo.

And you will make but an unhappy progress in
your study of the works of God, if you begin not
with yourselves. You can know but little of the
works of nature, till you know your own nature:
and you can know as little of the works of grace, till
self-acquaintance help you to know the nature and
danger of those diseases that grace must cure.
The unhappy error of presumptuous students, about
their own hearts, misleadeth and perverteth them in

147

the whole course of their studies. It is a lament-
able sight to see a man turning over fathers and
councils, and diligently studying words and notions,
that is himself in the gall of bitterness and bond of
iniquity, and never knew it, nor studieth the cure.
And it is a pitiful thing to see such in a pulpit,
teaching the people to know the mysteries of salva-
tion, that know not, nor ever laboured to know,
what sins are predominant in their own hearts and
lives; or, whether they stand before God in a justi-
fied or a condemned state ! To hear a poor, un-
sanctified man, as boldly treating of the mysteries of
sanctification, as if he had felt them in himself: and
a man that is condemned already, and stayeth but
a while till the stroke of death, for final execution,
to treat as calmly of judgment and damnation, as if
he were out of danger ; and exhorting others to
escape the misery which he is in himself, and never
dreameth of it ! This showeth how sad a thing it
is for men to be ignorant of themselves. To see
men run out into damnable and dangerous errors on
each hand, some into the proud self-conceitedness of
the fanatics, enthusiasts, and libertines ; and some
into contempt and scorn of holiness, and every one
confident, even to rage, in his own distractions: this
doth but show us, whither men will go, that are un-
acquainted with themselves.

This also maketh us so troubled with our audi-
tors, that when they would learn the truth that should
convert and save them, are carping and quarrelling
with us, and hear us as the Pharisees and Herodians
heard Christ, to catch him in his words. And they
must tell us themselves what medicine must be given
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148

ihem, what doctrine, and what administrations they
must have. Yea, they that will not be directed or
healed by us, will blame usif others be not healed, and
hit the minister in the teeth with tiie errors and iaults
of his unteacliable hearers. Though we do our best,
in season and out of season, and they cannot tell us
what we have neglected, on our part, tiiat was like
to do the cure (though I confess we arc too often
negligent) : and though we succeed to the conver-
sion of many others, yet must we be reproached with
the disobedience of the impenitent ! As if it were
not grief enough to us, to have our labours frus-
trated, and see them obstinate in their sin and
misery, but we must also be blamed or derided for
our calamity !

12. Lastly, consider but how many great and
necessary things concerning yourselves you have to
know, and it will show you how needful it is to
make this the first of your studies. To know what
you are as men; with what faculties you are en-
dowed, and to what use; for what end you live; in
what relation you stand to God and to your fellow-
creatures ; what duties you owe; what sin is in your
hearts; and what hath been, by commission and
omission, in your lives ; what humiliation, contrition,
and repentance you have for that sin ; whether you
have truly entertained an offered Christ; and are
renewed and sanctified by his Spirit; and unre-
servedly devoted to God, and resolved to be entirely
his: whether you love him above all, and your
neighbours as yourselves: whether you are justified
and have forgiveness of all your sins: whether you
you can bear afflictions from the hand, or for the

149

sake of Christ, even to the forsaking of all the
world, for the hopes of the heavenly, everlasting
treasure : how you perform the daily works of your re-
lations and callings : whether you are ready to die,
and are safe from the danger of damnation, O did
you but know how it concerneth you to get all these
questions well resolved, you would find more matter
for your studies in yourselves, than in many volumes.
You would then perceive that the matters of your
own hearts and lives, are not so lightly and care-
lessly to be passed over, as they ordinarily are by
drowsy sinners.

If you have but many and weighty businesses to
think on in the world, you are so taken up with care,
that you cannot turn away your thoughts. And
yet do you find no work at home, where you have
such a world of things to think on, and such as, of
all the matters in the world, do most nearly concern
you?

CHAPTER V.

Exhortations to cultivate Self- Acquaintance.

Having showed you so much reason for this
duty, let me now take leave to invite you all, to the
serious study of yourselves. It is a duty past all
controversy, agreed on by heathens as well as Chris-
tians, and urged by them in the general, though
many of the particulars to be known are beyond their
light. It brutifieth man to be ignorant of himself:
"Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, (him-

150

self especially,) is as the beasts that perish." Saith
Boetius, " It is worse than beastly to be ignorant of
ourselves, it being a vice in us, which is nature in
them."

Come home, you wandering, self-neglecting souls ;
lose not yourselves in a wilderness or tumult of im-
pertinent, vain, distracting things; your work is
nearer you ; the country that you should first sur-
vey and travel, is within you ; from which you must
pass to that above you : when by losing yourselves
in this without you, you will find yourselves, before
you are aware, in that below you. And then (as
Gregory speaks) he that was " a fool in sinning, will
be wise in suffering!" You shall then have time
enough to review your lives, and such constraining
help to know yourselves, as you cannot resist.
O that you would know but a little of that now,
which then you must else know in that overwhelm-
ing evidence which will everlastingly confound you!
And that you would now think of that for a timely
cure, which else must be thought of endlessly in
despair. Come home then, and see what work is
there. Let the eyes of fools be in the corners of
the earth I Leave it to men beside themselves, to
live as without themselves, and to be still from
home, and waste that time in other business, that
was given them to prepare for life eternal. " The
soul is more laudable that knows its own infirmity,
than he that without discerning this doth search
after the compass of the world, the courses of the
stars, the foundations of the earth, and the heights
of the heavens." — Augusfi?ie. Dost thou delight
in the mysteries of nature? Consider well the
mysteries of thy own. " Some men admire the

lol

heights of mountains, the huge waves of the sea,
the great falls of the rivers, the compass of the
ocean, and the circuit of the stars, and they pass
by themselves without admiration." The com-
pendium of all that thou studiest without thee, is
near thee, even within thee, thyself being the epi-
tome of the world. If either necessity or duty, na-
ture or grace, reason or faith, internal inducements,
external repulses, or eternal attractives and motives,
might determine the subject of your studies and
contemplations, you would call home your lost, dis-
tracted thoughts, and employ them more on your-
selves and God.

But before I urge this duty farther," I must pre-
vent the misapplication of some troubled souls. I
must confess it is a grievous thing for a guilty soul
to judge itself, and see its own deformity and dan-
ger: and I observe many troubled, humbled souls,
especially where melancholy much prevails, are ex-
ceedingly prone to abuse this duty, by excess and
misdoing it. Though wandering minds must be
called home, we must not run into the other ex-
treme, and shut up ourselves, and wholly dwell ou
the motions of our own distempered hearts. Though
straggling thoughts must be turned inward, and our
hearts must be watched, yet must we not be always
poring on ourselves, and neglect the rest of our in-
tellectual converse. To pore too long on the dis-
ordered motions, the confused thoughts, the wants,
the passions of our diseased minds, will but molest
us, and cast us into greater disquiet and confusion.
The words of Anselme notably express the straits
that Christians are here put to, " O grievous strait !

152

If I look into myself, I cannot endure myself: if I
look not into myself, I cannot know myself. If I
consider myself, my own face affrightcth me: if I
consider not myself, my damnation deceiveth me: if
I see myself the horror is intolerable: if I see not
myself, death is unavoidable."

In this strait we must be careful to avoid both
extremes; and neither neglect the study of our-
selves, nor yet exceed in poring on ourselves. To
be carelessly ignorant of ourselves, is to undo our-
selves for ever. To be too mucli about ourselves, is
to disquiet rather than to edify ourselves ; and to turn
a great and necessary duty into a great unnecessary
trouble.

Consider, 1, That we have many other matters
of great importance to study and know, when we
know ourselves. We must chiefly study God him-
self, and all the books of Scripture, nature, and
governing providence, which make him known.
What abundance of great and excellent truths have
we in all these to study ! What time, what in-
dustry is necessary to understand them ! And
should we lay out all this time about our own hearts
and actions, which is but one part of our study ?
What sinful omissions should we be guilty of, in
the neglcctinf: of all these ! It is indeed but the
burying of our talent of understanding, to confine it
to so narrow a compass as ourselves, and to omit the
study of God, and his word and works, which are
all, with delight and diligence, to be studied. We
have also Christ, and his gospel mysteries and bene-
fits to study. We have the church's ease, its dan-
gers, sufferings, and deliverances to study: we have

153

the state of our neighbours and brethren to consider
of; the mercies, and dangers, and sufferings, both of
their souls and bodies: we have our enemies to think
of with due compassion; and our duty to all these.

2. And as it is negligence and omission to be all
at home, and pass by so great a part of duty; so is it
a double frustration of our labour, and will make
even this study of ourselves to be in vain. (1.) We
cannot come, by all our study, to the true knowledge
of ourselves, unless we also study other things be-
sides ourselves. For we are related to God, as his
creatures, as his subjects, and as his dependent chil-
dren, as his redeemed, and his sanctified ones, or
should be such. And if we know not God as
Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier ; as our Owner,
Ruler, and Benefactor; and know not what his crea-
tion, redemption, sanciification, his title, govern-
ment, and benefits mean, it is not possible that we
should know ourselves. Mutual relations must be
known together, or neither can be known.

(2.) And if we could know ourselves, and know
no more, it were but to know nothing, and lose that
knowledge: for this is but the entrance into wisdom,
and the means and way to higher knowledge. This
learning of our primer is lost, if we learn no farther;
you are therefore to study and know yourselves,
that you may advance to the knowledge of Christ
and his grace, and be acquainted with the remedy
of all that you find amiss at home : and that by
Christ you may be brought unto the Father, and
know God as your happiness and rest; you are not
your own ultimate ends, and therefore must go
farther in your studies than yourselves.

G 3

154

3. We shall never attain to rectitude or solid
comfort, unless our studies go farther than ourselves;
for we are not the rule to ourselves, but crooked
lines : and cannot know what is right and wrong,
if we study not the rule as well as ourselves. And
alas ! we are diseased, miserable sinners. And to
be always looking on so sad a spectacle, can bring
no peace or comfort to the mind. To be still look-
ing on the sore, and hearing only the cry of con-
science, will be but a foretaste of hell. When we
would be humbled, and have matter of lamentation,
we must look homeward, where troubling corruptions
grow. But if we would be comforted and lift up,
we must look higher, to Christ and to his promises,
and to everlasting life: our garden beareth no
flowers or fruits that are so cordial.

Two sorts of persons have great need of this
caution, that they dwell not too much on themselves.
One is, poor n alancholy people, that can think of
almost nothing else : their distemper disposeth them
to be always poring on themselves, and fixing their
thoughts on their sin and misery, and searching
into all their own miscarriages, and making them
worse than indeed they are : you cannot call off their
thoughts from continual self-condemning, and musing
on their own misdoings and unhappiness. They
have a God, a Christ, a heaven, a treasure of pre-
cious promises to meditate on: and they cannot hold
their thoughts to these, unless, as they aggravate
their sin and sorrows, but live as if they had nothing
to think on but themselves, and were made to be
their own tormentors: day and night, even when
they should labour, and when they should sleep,

155

they are busy in a fruitless vexation of themselves.
These poor afflicted souls have need to be called
from the excessive study of themselves.

Another sort is, those Christians that are wholly
taken up in inquiring, whether they have saving
grace or not; while they neglect that exercise of
their grace, in doing all the good they can to others,
and following on the way of faithful duty, which
might do more to their assurance than solitary trials.

The former sort, by overdoing this one part of
their work, disable themselves for all the rest; they
tire and distract their minds, and raise such fears as
hinder their understandings, and cast their thoughts
into such confusion, that they quite lose the com-
mand of them, and cannot gather them up for any
holy work: yea, while they study nothing but them-
selves, they lose even the knowledge of themselves :
they gaze so long upon their faults and wants, till
they can see nothing else, and know no apprehen-
sions, but dark and sad ; and wilfully unlearn the
language of thanksgiving and praise; and the burden
of all their thoughts and speeches, is Miserable and
Undone; as if there were for them no mercy, no
help, no hope, but they were utterly forsaken, and
cast off by God.

The other sort do so exceed in the measure of
that self-love, which in itself is good, that they
neglect the study of the love of God, and are still
thinking what they are and have been, when they
should consider what they must be. They spend
so much time in trying their foundation, that they
can make but little progress in the building. They
are all day putting on their armour, and preparing

15G

their weapons, when they should be fighting. When
they should instruct the ignorant, exhort the obsti-
nate, confirm the weak, or comfort the afflicted, they
are complaining of" their own ignorance, obstinacy,
weakness, or affliction ; and help not others, because
they feel such need of help themselves. They un-
derstand not that it is one of the mysteries of god-
liness, that teaching others doth inform themselves,
and the light which they bring in for others, will
serve themselves to work by ; and that reproving
others doth correct themselves; and exhorting others
doth prevail with themselves ; and persuading the
obstinate wills of others, doth tend to bend and re-
solve their own ; and that comforting others, doth
tend to revive and raise themselves: their own spirits
may be a little revived, by the very smell of the
cordials they prepare for others. In this case, giv-
ing is both begging and receiving. Doing good is
not the least effectual kind of prayer; and that we
may be so employed, is not the smallest mercy.
Many a one hath thus grown rich by giving: many
a one hath convinced himself, by confuting his own
objections from another: and many a one hath raised
and comforted himself, by offering comfort to others
that have the same infirmities ; and have banished
their own excessive doubts and fears, by frequent
compassionate answering the same in others, whose
sincerity they have less suspected than their own.

None thrive more than they that grow in the
sunshine of God's blessing : and God blesseth those
most that are the most faithful in his work : and the
work of love is the work of God. To do good, is
to be most like him j and they that are most like

157

him, do best please him. In subordination to Christ,
in whom we are accepted, we must, by his Spirit,
be made thus acceptable in ourselves: we must be
amiable if we will be loved. And those that God
loveth best, and is most pleased with, are like to re-
ceive most plenteously from his love. It is neces-
sary, therefore, to our own safety, and holiness, and
consolation, that we look much abroad at the neces-
sities of others, and study our brethren, and the
church of God, as well as ourselves : that we " look
not every man on his own things, but every man
also on the things of others."

There may be somewhat of inordinate selfishness
even about our souls; and sinful selfishness is always
a losing course. As he that will be a self-saver, in
point of estate, or honour, or life, taketh the ready
way to lose them; so he that, for the saving of his
soul, will confine all his care and charity to his own
soul, taketh not the way indeed to save it. We
keep not ourselves; we quicken not, we comfort
not, we save not ourselves; but only as agents under
Christ, manuring the land, and sowing the seed, to
which he alone can give the blessing : it is not,
therefore, our inordinate self-studying that will do
it. With all our care, without his blessing, we
cannot add one cubit to the stature of our graces :
therefore, it must needs be our safest course, to be
as careful and faithful as we can in duty, and lay
out most of our study to please him; and then if we
come not to assurance of his love, or discern not his
image and grace upon us, yet we must trust him
with our souls, and leave the rest to his care and
goodness, that hath undertaken that none shall be

158

losers by him, nor be ashamed, or have their hopes
frustrated, that wait upon him : " Let us commit the
keeping of our souls to him in well doing, as unto
a faithful Creator." " As the eyes of servants look
to the hand of their masters, — so our eyes, in a way
of duty, must wait upon the Lord our God, till he
have mercy upon us." And though we " grow
weary of crying, and our throat be dried, and our
eyes fail while we wait for God," yet " our hope is
only in him, and therefore we must continue to wait
upon him." " And they that wait for him shall
not be ashamed,"

It is not the pretended necessity of one work,
that will excuse him that hath many as necessary to
do; especially when they are conjunct in nature and
necessity, and must go together, to attain their end.
Concerning God, as we may well say that we must
love and serve him only, and none but him, because
we must love nothing but for his sake, and as a
means to him, the end of all ; and so, while it is God
in all things that we love, we are more properly said
to love God than the creature by that act, because
he is the ultimate first intended end, and principal
object of that love; and as the means, as a means,
hath its essence in its relation to the end ; so the
love of the means, as such, is accordingly specified ;
and- so we may say of our study and knowledge of
God, that nothing but God is to be studied or
known ; because it is God in the creature that must
be studied. It is a defective similitude, as all are,
to say, ' As it is the face that we behold the glass
for :' for God is more in the creature than the face
in the glass. But though all the means be united

159

in the end, yet are they various among themselves.
And therefore, though we must study, know, and
love nothing but God, yet we must study, know, and
love many things besides ourselves: the means that
are many, must all be thought on.

All men will confess, that to confine our charity
to ourselves, and to do good to no others, is unlike
a Christian. To deny to feed and clothe our
brother in his need, is to deny it unto Christ: and
it will be no excuse, if we were able to say, ' I laid
it out upon myself.' And the objects of our charity
must be the objects of our thoughts and care : and
it will not suffice for our excuse to say, ' I was taken
up at home, I had a miserable soul of my own to
think on.'

And yet, if these self-studying souls, that confine
almost all their thoughts to themselves, would but
seek after God in themselves, and see his grace and
benefits, it were the better; but, poor souls ! in the
darkness of temptation, they overlook their God;
and most of their study of themselves, is to see
Satan and his workings in themselves ; to find as
much of his image as the'y can, in the deformities
or infirmities of their souls; but the image of God
they overlook, and hardly will acknowledge. And
so, as noble objects raise the soul, and amiable ob-
jects kindle love, and comfortable objects fill it with
delight; and God, who is all in one perfection, doth
elevate and perfect it, and make it happy ; so in-
ferior objects depress it; and loathsome objects fill
it with distaste and loathing; and sad and mournful
objects turn it into grief : and therefore, to be still
looking on our miseries and deformities, must needs

160

turn calamity anil woe into the temperament and
complexion of the soul.

This much I thought needful to be spoken here,
to prevent misundcrstaucling and misapplication ; that
while I am pressing you to study and know your-
selves, I may not encourage any in extremes, nor
tempt them to make an ill use of so great and neces-
sary a doctrine. And, indeed, the observation of
the sad calamity of many poor, drooping, afflicted
souls, that are still poring excessively on their own
hearts, commanded me not to overpass this caution.
And yet, when I have done it, I am afraid lest
those in the contrary extreme, will take encourage-
ment to neglect themselves, by my reprehensions of
those that are so unlike them.

And therefore I must add, to save them from
deceit; 1. That it is but very few that are faulty
in over-studying themselves, in comparison of the
many thousands that err on the other hand, in the
careless neglecting of themselves. 2. And that it
is symptomatically and effectively far more dangerous
to study yourselves too little than too much. Though
it be a fault to exceed here, yet it is, for the most
part, a sign of an honest heart to be much at home,
and a sign of a hypocrite to be little at home and
much abroad. Sincerity maketh men censurers of
themselves ; for it maketh them more impartial, and
willing to know the truth of their condition ; it
cureth them of that folly, that before made them
think that presumption shall deliver them, and that
they shall be justified by believing promises of their
own, though contrary to the word of God ; yea, by
believing the promises of the devil, and calling this

161

a faith in Christ. They are awakened from that
sleep, • in which they dreamed that winking would
save them from the stroke of justice, and that a
strong conceit, that they shall not be damned, will
deliver them from damnation ; and that they are
safe from hell if they can but believe that there is
no hell, or can but forget it, or escape the fears of
it. These are the pernicious conclusions of the un-
godly ; discernible in their lives, and intimated in
their presumptuous reasonings, though too gross to
be openly and expressly owned : and therefore they
are indisposed to any impartial acquaintance with
themselves.

But grace recovereth men from this distraction,
and makes them know, that the judgment of God
will not follow the conceits of men ; that the know-
ledge of their disease is necessary to their cure, and
the knowledge of their danger is necessary to the
prevention; and that it is the greatest madness to
go on to hell, for fear of knowing that we are in the
way; and to refuse to know it, for fear of being
troubled at the news.

And an upright soul is so far fallen out with sin,
that he taketh it seriously for his enemy, and there-
fore is willing to discover it, in order to its destruc-
tion, and willing to search after it in order to a dis-
covery. And he hath in him some measure of the
heavenly illumination, which maketh him a child of
light, and disposeth him to love the light, and there-
fore Cometh to it, " that his deeds may be made
manifest." Hypocrites are quick-siglited in dis-
covering the infirmities of others ; but at home they
shut the windows, and draw the curtains, that they

162

may not be disturbed or frightened in their sin :
darkness suits the works of darkness. It is a good
sign when a man dare see his own face in the glass
of God's word ; and when he dare hear his con-
science speak. I have ever observed it in the most
sincere-hearted Christians, that their eye is more
upon their own hearts and lives, than upon others:
and I have still observed the most unsound professors
to be least censorious and regardful of themselves,
and hardly drawn to converse at home, and to pass
an impartial judgment on themselves.

Hence, therefore, you may be informed of the
reason of many other differences between sincere
believers and the ungodly. Why is it that the sin-
cere are so ready to discourse about matters of the
heart; and that they so much relish such discourse;
and that they have so much to say when you come
to such a subject ? It is because they know them-
selves in some good measure. They have studied,
and are acquainted with the heart, and therefore can
talk the more sensibly of what is contained in a
book which they have so often read. Talk with
them about the matters of the world, and perhaps
you may find them more simple and ignorant than
many of their neighbours : but when you talk about
the corruptions of the heart, and its secret workings;
the matter, and order, and government of the
thoughts, and affections, and passions; the wants
and weaknesses of believers ; the nature and work-
ings of inward temptations ; the ways of grace, and
of the exercise of each grace ; the motions and ope-
rations of the Spirit upon the heart ; the breathings
of love and desire after God; the addresses of the

163

soul to Christ by faith, and dependence on him, and
receivings from him ; about these secret matters of
the heart, he is usually more able in discourse than
many learned men that are unsanctified.

And hence it is that upright, self-observing souls
are so full in prayer, and able to pour out their
hearts so enlargedly before the Lord, in confessing
their sins, and petitioning for grace, and opening
their necessities, and thanking God for spiritual
mercies. Some that are themselves acquainted
with themselves, and the workings of grace, despise
all this, and say, ' It is but an ability to speak of
the things which they are most used to.' I doubt
not but mere acquired abilities and custom may ad-
vance some hypocrites, to pray in the language of
experienced Christians. And I doubt not but natu-
ral impediments, and want of right education, may
cause many to want convenient expressions, that
have true desires. But the question is, from whence
it comes to pass, that so great a number of those
that are most careful and diligent for their souls,
are so full in holy conference and prayer, when very
few others that excel them in learning and natural
parts, have any such ability ? And doubtless the
chief reason is, that the care and study of these
Christians hath been most about their spiritual
estate; and that which they set their hearts upon,
they use their tongues upon : generally it cannot be
imagined, why they should use themselves to those
studies and exercises which procure those abilities,
but that they more highly esteem, and most seriously
regard, the matters that concern their salvation, which
are the subject. I doubt not but God bestoweth

164

his gifts upon men in the use of means, and that it
is partly use that maketh men able and ready in
these services of God. But what reason can be
given, why one part of men use themselves to such
employments, and another part are unable through
disuse, but that some do set their hearts upon it, and
make it their business to know themselves, their sins,
and wants, and seek relief, when by the others all
this is neglected ? Some hypocrites may be moved
by lower ends, both in this and in other duties of
religion; but that is no rule for our judging of the
intentions of the generality, or of any that are sin-
cere. As a man that hath lived in the East or West
Indies, is able to discourse of the places and people
which he hath seen ; and perhaps another, by a map
or history, may say somewhat of tlie same subject,
though less distinctly and sensibly; but others can
say nothing of it: so a man of holy experience in
the mysteries of sanctification, that is much conver-
sant at home, and acquainted with his own heart, is
able (if other helps concur) to speak what he feels,
to God and man, and from his particular observation
and experience, to frame his prayers' and spiritual
conference; and a hypocrite, from reading and
common observation, may do something affectedly
that is like it : but careless, self-neglecting world-
lings, are usually dumb about such matters, and
hear you as they do men of another country, that
talk in a language which they do not understand,
or at least cannot make them any answer in.

But if any of you will needs think more basely
and maliciously of the cause of holy prayer and con-
ference in believers, let us leave them, for the pre-

165

sent, (to the justification of Him that gave them the
spirit of suppHcation, which you reproach,) and let
us only inquire what is the reason that men that can
discourse as handsomely as others, about worldly
matters, have nothing to say, (beyond a few, cold,
affected words, which they have learned by rote,)
either to God or man, about the matters of the soul,
the methods of the Spirit, the workings of a truly
penitent heart, or the elevations of faith, and the
pantings of desire after God. Why are you dumb
when you should speak this language, and frequent-
ly and delightfully speak it? Is it because your
reason is lower than those men's that speak it, whom
you despise ? No ; you are wise enough to do
evil : you can talk of your trades, your honours, or
employments, your acquaintance and corresponden-
ces all the day long; you are more wordy about
these little things, than the preachers themselves,
that you count more tedious, are about the greatest.
You are much longer in discoursing of your delusory
toys, than the lovers of God, whose souls long after
him, are in those prayers, which trouble you with
their length. Many a time I have been forced to
hear your dreaming, incoherent dotage : how copi-
ous you are in the words that signify no greater mat-
ters than flesh-pleasing, or fanciful honours and
accommodations. As the ridiculous orator, "you
strain and gape an hour, or a day together, to say
nothing." Set all the words of a day together, and
peruse them at night, and see what they are worth :
there is little higher than visible materials, than meat
and drink, and play and compliment, than houses, or
lands, or domineering affections, or actions, in many

166

hours or days' discourse. I think of you sometimes,
when I see how ingeniously and busily children do
make up their babies of clouts, and how seriously
they talk about them, and how every pin and clout
is matter of employment and discourse, and how
highly they value them, and how many days they
can unvveariedly spend about them. Pardon my
comparison : if you repent not of your discourses
and employments more than they, and do not one
day call yourselves far worse fools than them, then
let me be stigmatized with the most contumelious
brand of folly.

It is not then your want of natural faculties and
parts, that makes you mute in the matters of God
and your salvation, when men of meaner parts than
you do speak of those things with the greatest free-
dom and delight.

And surely it is not for want of an ingenuous
education ; as you would take it ill to be thought
below them in natural endowments, so much more in
those acquisitions and furniture of the mind, which
comes by due culture of your faculties. You would
disdain, in these, to be compared with many poor
rustics and mechanics, that are almost as fluent in
speaking of the great things of immortality, as you
are in talking of your transient occurrences, your
sublunary felicities, and the provisions of your appe-
tites. What, then, can be the cause of this dumb
disease, but that you are unacquainted with your-
selves? And as you have not a new birth, and - a
divine nature, and the Spirit of Christ, to be either
the spring and principle, or the matter of your dis-
course ; so you have not the due knowledge of your

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sin and misery, which should teach you in the
language of serious penitents, before you have the
language of justified believers.

If you say again, ' It is because we have not been
used to this kind of speech.' I answer, And
whence is it that you have not been used to it ? If
you had known the greatness and goodness of the
Lord, as sensibly as they, would not you have used
to pray to him, and speak of him as well as they ?•
If you had known, and considered your sin, and
wants, and miseries, or dangers, as well as they,
would you not have been used to beg mercy, pardon,
and relief, and to complain of your distress as much
as they ? If you did as highly value the matters of
eternal consequence as they do, and laid them to
heart as seriously as they, would not your minds and
hearts have appeared in your speeches, and made you
use yourselves to prayer and holy conference as well
as others?

If you say, ' Tliat many have that within them
which they are not able to express, or which they
think not meet to open unto others,' I answer,

1. As to ability, it is true of those that have ex-
cessive bashfulness, melancholy, or the like ; and of
those that are so lately converted, that they have not
had time to learn and use themselves to a holy
language : but what is this to them that are of as
good natural parts, and free elocution, as other men,
and suppose themselves to have been true Christians
long ?

2. And, as to the point of prudence which is
pleaded for this silence, it is so much against nature,
and so much against the word of God, that there is

168

no room at all for this pretence, unless it be for in-
feriors, or such as want an opportunity to speak to
their superiors, or to strangers ; or, unless it be
when the thing would be unseasonable.

Nature hath made the tongue the index of the
mind ; especially to express the matters of most ur-
gency and concern. Do you keep silent on the
matters which you most highly esteem ; which you
most often think of; which you take your life and
happiness to consist in; and which you are most
deeply affected with, and prefer before all other mat-
ters of the world? What a shameful pretence is it,
for those that are dumb to prayer and holy confer-
ence, for want of any sense of their condition, or love
to God, which should open their lips, to talk on
them ? Is it because their prudence directeth them
to silence? When they hold not their tongues
about those matters, which they must confess are
ten thousandfold less regardable, they can discourse,
unweariedly, about their wealth, their sport, their
friend, their honour, because they love them : and,
if a man should here tell them, that the heart is not
to be opened or exercised by the tongue, they would
think he knew not the natural use of heart or tongue :
and yet, while they pretend to love God above all,
they have neither skill nor will to make expression
of it, you strike them dumb when you turn the
stream of conference that way ; and you may almost
as well bid them speak in a strange language, as pray
to God from the sense of their necessities, and yet
they say, their hearts are good.

Let the word of God be judge, whether a holy,
experienced heart should hide itself, and not appear

169

in prayer and holy conference by the tongue.
" Pray continually." " Christ spake a parable to
this end, that men ought always to pray, and not
wax faint." " Be careful for nothing; but in every
thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God."

And how they must pray, you may gather from
2 Chron. vi. 29. In case of dearth, pestilence,
mildews, locusts, caterpillars, enemies, sicknesses, or
sores, " Then what prayer or supplication soever
shall be made of any man, or of all the people, when
every one shall know his own sore, and his own
grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house,
then hear thou from heaven," &<;. I am not speak-
ing of the prescribed prayers of the church, nor de-
nying the lawfulness of such in private ; but if you
have no words but what you say by rote, and pray
not from the knowledge of your own particular sore
and grief, it is because you are too much unac-
quainted with yourselves, and strangers to those
hearts, where the greatest of your sores and griefs
are lodged.

And whether good hearts should he opened in ,
holy conference (as well as prayer), you may easily
determine from the command of God, " As every
man hath received the gift, so minister the same one
to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of
God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles
of God." " Let no corrupt communication proceed
out of your mouth, but that which is good to the
use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the
hearers." " Exhort one another daily, while it is
called to-day, lest any of you be hardened through
H 45

170

the deceitfulness of sin." " The mouth of the
righteous spcakcth wisdom, and his tongue talkcth
of judgment: the law of his God is in his heart,"
&c. " Let my mouth be filled with thy praise
and with thy honour all the day." " The mouth
of a righteous man is a well of life. The lips of
the righteous feed many." And Christ himself
decideth it expressly, " Out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth spcaketh. A good man, out of
the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good
things."

For a man that hath no heart to prayer or holy
conference, but loathes them, and had rather talk of
fleshly pleasures, to pretend that yet his heart is
good, and that God will excuse him for not express-
ing it; and that it is his prudence, and his freedom
from hypocrisy, that maketh his tongue to be so
much unacquainted with the goodness of his heart,
this is but to play the hypocrite to prove that he is
no hypocrite, and to cover his ignorance in matters
of his salvation, with the expression of his ignorance
of the very nature and use of heart and tongue, and
to cast by the laws of God, and his own duty, and
cover this impiety with the name of imidowe. If
heart and tongue be not used for God, what do you
either with a heart or tongue ?

The case is plain, to men that can see that it is
your strangeness to yourselves, that is the cause that
you have little to say against yourselves, when you
should confess your sins to God ; and so little to say
for yourselves, when you should beg his grace; and
so little to say of yourselves, when you should open
your hearts to those that can advise you : but that

171

you see not that this is the cause of your dumbness,
who see so Utile of your own corruptions, is no
wonder, while you are so strange at home. Had
you but so much knowledge of yourselves as to see
that it is the strangeness to yourselves that maketh
you so prayerless and mute; and so much sense as
to complain of your darkness, and be willing to come
to the light, it were a sign that light is coming in
to you, and that you are in a hopeful way of cure.
But when you neither know yourselves, nor know
that you do not know yourselves, your ignorance
and pride are likely to cherish your presumption and
impiety, till the light of grace, or the fire of hell,
have taught you better to know yourselves.

2. And here you may understand the reason why
people fearing God, are so apt to accuse and condemn
themselves, and to be too much cast down ; and why
they that have cause of greatest joy, do sometimes
walk more heavily than others. It is because they
know more of their sinfulness, and take more notice
of their inward corruptions and outward failings,
than presumptuous sinners do of theirs. Because
they know their faults and wants, they are cast
down ; but when they come further to see their in-
terest in Christ and grace, they will be raised up
again. Before they are converted, they usually
presume, as being ignorant of their sin and misery :
in the infancy of grace they know these, but yet
languish for want of more knowledge of Christ and
mercy. But he that knoweth fully both himself
and Christ, both misery and mercy, is humbled and
comforted, cast down and exalted. As a man that
never saw the sea, is not afraid of it; he that seeth
H 2

172

it but afar off, and thinks he shall never come near
it, is not much afraid of it ; he that is drowned in
it, is vvorse than afraid ; he that is tossed by the
waves, and doubteth of ever coming safe to harbour,
is the fearful person; he that is tossed, but hath
good hopes of a safe arrival, hath fears that are
abated or overcome with hope : but he that is safe
landed is past his fears. The first is like him that
never saw the misery of the ungodly; the second is
like him that seeth it in general, but thinks it doth
not belong to him ; the third is like the damned,
that are past remedy ; the fourth is like the humbled,
doubting Christian, that seeth the danger, but doth
too much question or forget the helps; the fifth is
like the Christian of a stronger faith, that sees the
danger, but withal seeth his help and safety ; the
sixth is like the glorified saints, that are past the
danger.

Though the doubting Christian know not his
sincerity, and therefore knoweth not himself so well
as the strong believer doth, yet, in that he know-
eth his sinfulness and unworthiness, he knoweth
himself better than the presumptuous world.

CHAPTER VI.

Exhortations to the Ungodly.

All persons to whom I can address this exhor-
tation, are either godly or ungodly; in the state of
sin, or in the state of grace. And both of them
have need to study themselves.

173

I. And to begin with the unrenewed, carnal sort,
it is they that have the greatest need to be better
acquainted with themselves. O that I knew how
to make them sensible of it; if any thing will do it,
methinks it should be done, by acquainting them
how much their endless state is concerned in it.
In order hereunto, let me yet add to all that is said
already, these few considerations:

1. If you know not yourselves, you know not
whether you are the children of God, or not; nor
whether you must be for ever in heaven or hell; no,
nor whether you may not, within this hour, behold
the angry face of God, which will frown you into
damnation. And is this a matter for a man of rea-
son to be quietly and contentedly ignorant of? It
is a business of such unspeakable concern, to know
whether you must be everlastingly in heaven or hell,
that no man can spare his cost or pains about it,
without betraying and disgracing his understanding.
You are sure you shall be here but a little while ;
those bodies, you all know, will hold your souls but
a little longer ; as you know that you that are now
together here attending, must presently quit this room
and be gone, so you know that, when you have stayed
a little longer, you must quit this vvorld, and be
gone into another. And I think there is not the
proudest of you but would be taken down, nor the
most sluggish or dead-hearted but would be awak-
ened, if you knew that you must go to endless mis-
ery, and that your dying hour would be your entrance
into hell. And if you know not yourselves, you
know not but it may be so. And to know nothing to
the contrary, would be terrible to you if you well con-

174-

sidered it, especially when you have so much cause to
fear it. O sirs, for a man to live here senselessly,
that knows not hut he may hurn in hell for ever,
and knows not, hecause he is hiind and careless; how
unsuitable is it to the principle of self-preservation?
And how much unbeseeming the rational nature,
to have no sense or care, when you look before you
into the unquenchable flic, and the utter darkness.

If any of you think that all these matters arc to
be put to the adventure, and cannot now be known,
you are dangerously mistaken. As you may cer-
tainly know by Scripture, that there is a future life
of joy to the godly, and of misery to the wicked, so
may you know, by a faithful trial of yourselves, to
which of these at present you belong, and whether
you are under the promise or the threatening; know
yourselves, and you may know whether you are
justified or condemned already, and whether you are
the heirs of heaven or hell. Surely He that com-
forteth his servants with the promise of glory to all
that believe and are new creatures, and sanctified
by his Spirit, did suppose that we may know whether
we believe, . and are renewed and sanctified or not :
or else, what comfort can it be to us ? If blinded
infidels, have no means to quiet themselves but their
unbelief, and a conceit that there is no such life of
misery, they have the most pitiful opiate to ease
them in the world ; and may as well think to become
immoLtal, by a confident conceit that they shall never
die. / If they befool themselves with the ordinary
questions, ' Where is hell, and what kind of fire is
it?' &c. I answer them, with Augustine, " It is
better to be in doubt about tilings that are hidden

175

from us, than to quarrel about things that are un-
certain to us.; I am past doubt that we must under-
stand that that rich man was in the heat of pain,
and the poor man in a refreshing place of joys :
but how to understand that flame in hell, that bosom
of Abraham, that tongue of the rich man, that finger
of the poor man, that thirst of torment, that drop
for cooling or refreshment, perhaps will hardly be
found by the most humble inquirers, but never by
contentious strivers."

So that I may conclude, that the greatness and
dreadfulness of the case, should make every person
that hath an eye to see, an ear to hear, and a heart
to understand, to read, inquire, and consider; and
never rest till they know themselves, and understand
where it is that they are going to take up their
abode to everlasting.

2. Consider, that all men must shortly know
themselves. Presumption will be but of short con-
tinuance. Though ever so confident of being
saved without holiness, you will speedily be unde-
ceived. If the Spirit's illumination do not convince
and undeceive you, death will undoubtedly do it at
the farthest. Thousands and millions know their
sin and misery now, when it is too late, that would
not know it when the remedy was at hand. Sinners!
your souls are now in darkness: your bodies are your
dungeon ; but when death brings you out into the
open light, you will see what we could never makei
you sec. O how glad would a faithful minister of
Christ be, if, by any information, he could now give
you half the light that you shall then have, and
now make you know at the heart with the feeling

176

of repentance, that which you must else quickly
know, even at the heart with the feeling of despair.
Sirs, I hope you think not that I speak mere fancies
to you, or any thing tliat is questionable or uncer-
tain: you cannot say so without denying yourselves
to be Christians; no, nor without contradicting the
light of nature, and debasing your souls below the
heathen, who believe an immortality of souls in a
different state of joy or misery in the life to come:
and if you are once below heathens, what are you
better than brute beasts ? Better in your natural
faculties and powers, as not being made brutes by
your Creator; but worse as to the use of them, and
the consequences to yourselves, because you are
voluntary, self-abusing brutes., But to believe you
shall die as a beast, will not prevent the miserable
life of an impenitent sinner. It will not make your
souls to be mortal, to believe they are mortal. Faith
and reason can both assure you, that your souls lie
not down with your bodies in the dust, nor are
annihilated by the falling of your earthly tabernacle;
no more than the spirits when the glass is broken
that held them : or than the bird is annihilated tliat
is got out of tlie shell : nor any more than the angels
that appeared to the apostles or others, were anni-
hilated when they disappeared: or, (if I must speak
more suitably to the ungodly,) no more than the
devil, that sometimes appeareth in a bodily shape, is
annihilated when that appearance vanisheth. As I
suppose there is not a person in all this populous
city, that was here but sevenscore years ago, so I
suppose there is none of you that expect to be here
so long a time ; they arc gone before you into a

177

world where there is no presumption or security :
and I tell you all, you are going after them apace,
and are almost there, i

O sirs, that world a world of light. To the
damned souls it is called outer darkness, because
they have none of the light of glory or of comfort ;
but they shall have the light of a self-accusing, self-
tormenting conscience, that is gone out of the dark-
ness of self-ignorance and self-deceit, and is fully
cured of its slumber and insensibility.

Do you now take a civilized person for a saint ?
You will not do so long. Doth the baptism of
water only go with you now for the regeneration of
the Spirit? It will not be so long: you will shortly
be undeceived. Doth a ceremonious Pharisee thank
God for the sincerity and holiness which he never
had? He will shortly be taught better to know
the nature of holiness and sincerity, and that Cod
justifieth not all that justify themselves. Doth a
little formal, heartless, hypocritical devotion, now
cover a sensual, worldly mind ? The cover will be
shortly taken off, and the nakedness and deforraity
of the Pharisee will appear. Doth the name of a
Christian, and the heartless use of outward ordi-
nances, and that good esteem of others, now go for
godliness and saving grace? The autumn is at
hand, when these leaves will all lie in the dust, and
will go for fruit no longer. Do you now take it for
true religion to be hot for lust, and pride, and gain,
and cold for God and your salvation ? and to obey
God as far as will stand with your outward pros-
perity, and as the flesh, or your other masters will
give leave ? This is an opinion that never accom~

178

panied any man beyond the grave. Do you think
to be saved by all tliat devotion, which gives God
but the leavings of the flesh and world, and by a
religion that gives him but the outer rooms (when
pleasure and gain are next your hearts), and that
makes him but an underling to your covetousness
and ambition Think so if you can, when you are
gone hence. Cannot the preacher now make the
ungodly to know that they are ungodly, the un-
sanctified to know they are but carnal, and the Pha-
risee to know that his religion is vain ? Death can
convince tlie awakened soul of all this in a moment.

You can choose whether you will believe us; but
death will so speak as to be believed. You must
be voluntary in knowing your misery now : but then
you shall know it against your wills. You must
open your eyes, if you will see yourselves by the
light which we bring to you ; but death irresistibly
throws open all. To say, in pride and obstinacy,
' I will not believe it,' will now serve the turn to
quiet your consciences, and make you seem as safe
as any ; but when God saith, ' You shall feel it,'
your unbelief is ineffectual : it can then torment
you, but it can no longer ease you. There is then
no room for ' I will not believe it.' /' God can,
without a word, persuade you of that wlwch you were
resolved you would never be persuaded oL j While
you are in the body, you are every one affected
according as you apprehend your state to be, whether
it be indeed as you apprehend it or not; but when
death hath opened you the door into eternity, you
will be all affected with your conditions as they are in-
deed. To day you are quiet, because you think your

179

souls are safe; and some are troubled, that think
they are in a state of misery : and it is likely that
some on both sides are mistaken ; and the quiet of
one, and the disquiet of another, may arise for want
of the knowledge of yourselves. But death will rec-
tify both these errors ; and then, if you are unsanc-
tified, no false opinions, no unbelief, no confident
conceits of your integrity, will abate your desperation,
or give any ease to your tormented minds; nor will
there be any doubts, or fears, or despairing, self-
afflicting thoughts, to disquiet those that Christ
hath justified, or abate their joys.

O how many thousands will then think much
otherwise of themselves than they now do ! Death
turns you out of the company of flatterers, and calls
you out of the vvorld of error, where men laugh and
cry in their sleep; and bringeth you among awakened
souls, where all things are called by their proper
names, and all men know themselves to be as they
are indeed.^ Serious religion is not there a derision;
nor loving/ and seeking, and serving God with all
the heart, and soul, and might, is not there taken for
unnecessary preciseness. God judgeth not as man,
by outward appearances, but with righteous judg-
ment: " That which is highly esteemed among men,
is abomination in the si^ht of God." And he will
make you then to judge of yourselves as he hatli
judged you. Though wisdom now be justified but
of her children, it shall then be justified by all: not
by a sanctifying, but a constrained, involuntary, tor-
menting light; and though now men can believe as
well of themselves, as self-love and the quieting of
their consciences doth require, yet then they will
have lost this mastery over their own conceits.

180

O therefore, seeing you are all going into an ir-
resistibly convincing light, and are almost in that
world where all must fully know themselves; seeing
" nothing is covered that shall not be revealed, nor
hid that shall not be made known," and no unsanc-
tified hypocrite doth flatter himself into such high
presumption, but a dying hour will take him down,
■ and turn it all into endless desperation, if true con-
version prevent not;, I beseech you be more conver-
sant with conscience than you have been: be ashamed,
that you who know nothing better than flesh to adorn
and to be careful of, should bestow more hours
in looking into the glass, than you bestow to look
I into God's word and your own hearts; yea, more
in a year, than you have thus bestowed in all your
lives ! /

O that you knew what a profitable companion
conscience is for you to converse with ! You would
not then think yourselves so solitary as to be desti-
tute of company and employment, while you have so
much to do at home, and one in your bosom that you
have so much business with.

And it is a necessary and inseparable companion-
If conscience should chide you when you had rather
be flattered; yet there is no running from it for more
pleasant company. / Conscience is married to you
please it on safe terms as well as you can; but do n6t
think to overrun it: for it will follow you; or you
must return to it home again, when you have gone
your furthest. There is no expectation of a divorce';
no, not by death : it will follow you to eternity^ And
therefore be not strange to conscience, that will be
your comforter or tormentor at the hour of death ;

181

that can do so much to make sickness, and all suffer-
ing, light or grievous ; and to make death welcome
or terrible to you. Fly not from conscience, that
must dwell with you for ever.

O foolish sinners ! do you want company and
business to pass away your time ? Are you fain to
go to cards or dice to waste this treasure,»which is
more precious than your money ? Do you go to an
alehouse, a playhouse, to seek for company or pas-
time? Do you forget what company and business
you have at home ? As you love your peace and hap-
piness, instead of conversing with vain, lascivious, or
ungodly persons, O spend that time in converse with
your consciences ! You may there have a thousand
times more profitable discourse. Be not offended to
give conscience a sober, faithful answer, if it ask you,
What have you done with all your time ? and how
you have lived in the world ? and how you have
obeyed tl)e calls of grace? and how you have enter-
tained Christ in your hearts ? and whether you have
obeyed him or his enemy ? and whether you have
been led by the Spirit or the flesh? and what for-
wardness the work of your salvation is in ? and what
assurance you have of your justification and.salva
tion ? and what readiness to die ? Think it not
presumption in conscience thus to examine you :
though you have perhaps unthankfully disdained to
be thus examined by your pastors, whose office is to
help you, and watch for your souls, yet do not dis-
dain to be accountable to yourselves. Accountable
you must be, ere long, to God; and that friend that
would help you to make ready such accounts, on which
so great a weight dependeth, methinks should be

182

welcomed vvitli a tliousand thanks. Ministers and
conscience sliould Ije acccjitable to you, tiiat come on
so necessary a work.

The chidings of conscience are more friendly lan-
guage than the flattery of your ignorant or proud
associates; and should be more grateful to you than
" the laif^ghter of fools, which is like the crackling of
thorns in the fire." Thy own home, though it be a
house of mourning, is better for thee than such a
sinful house of mirth. Hear but what conscience
hath to say to you. No one will speak with you,
that hath words to speak which more nearly concern
you. I beseech you, sirs, be more frequent and
familiar with conscience than most men are. Think
not the time lost vviien you walk and talk with it
alone. Confer with it about your endless state, and
where you are likely to be for ever, and what
thoughts you will have of your sins and duties, of
the world and God, of yielding or overconring at the
last. Is there no sense in this discourse ? Thou art
dead and senseless if thou think so. Is idle talk and
prating better ? I hope you are not so distracted as
to say so. If you have not blinded, deceived, or
bribed it, I tell you, conscience hath other kind of
discourse for you ; more excellent and necessary
things to talk of, than wantons, or worldlings have.
It is better to be giving conscience an account, what
business thou hast had so often in such company;
and how thou wouldst have looked, if death had
found thee there, than, without leave from God or
conscience, to go thither again.

The thriving way is neither to be still at home,
nor still abroad ; but to be at home when home-work

183

is to be done, and to be abroad only for doing and
xrettin'r cood, in a way of dilijient Christian tradincf,
and to brine that home that is sot abroad. When
you have done with conscience, converse with others
that yonr business lieth with, and go abroad when it
is for your Master's work : but go not upon idle
errands ; converse not with prodigal wasters of your
time, and enemies to your souls. One time or other
conscience will speak, and have a hearing: the sooner
the better. Put it not off to a time so unseasonable
as death : I say, not unseasonable for conscience to
speak in, but unseasonable for it to begin to speak
in; and unseasonable for those terrible words that
need a calmer time for answer; and unseasonable for
so many things and so great, as self-betrayers use to
put off until then, which need a longer time for due
consideration and despatch.

3. And I beseech you consider, with what amaz-
ing horror it must needs surprise you, to find on a
sudden, and unexpectedly, when you die, that all is
worse with you than you imagined or would believe!
After a whole life of confident presumption, to be
suddenly convinced by so dreadful an experience of
your so long and wilful a mistake ! To find, in a
moment, that you have flattered your souls into so
desperate a state of woe ! To see and feel all the
selfish cavils and reasonings confuted, in one hour,
which the wisest and holiest men on earth could never
beat you from before ! O, sirs, you know not what a
day, what a conviction, that will be! You know not
what it is for a guilty soul to pass out of the body,
and find itself in the plague of an unsanctified state,
and hated of the holy God, that never would know

184-

it till it was too late. You know not what it is to
be turned, by death, into the world of spirits, where
all self-deceit is detected by experience, and all must
undergo a righteous judgment ; where blindness and
self-love can no more persuade the miserable that
they are happy, the unholy that they are sanctified,
the fleshly-minded men that they are spiritual, the
lovers of the world that they are the lovers of God.
Men cannot there believe what they list; nor take
that for a truth which makes for their security, be it
ever so false: men cannot there believe that they
are accepted of God, while they are in the bonds of
their iniquity; or that their hearts are as good as the
best, while their tongues and lives are opposite to
goodness, or that they shall be saved as soon as the
godly, though they be ungodly.

It is easy for a man to hear of waves, and gulfs,
and shipwreck, that never saw the sea; and, without
any trouble, to hear of sickness and tormenting pains,
and cutting off of limbs, that never felt such things.
It is easy for you, in the midst of health, and peace,
and quietness, to hear of a departing soul, and where
it shall appear, and what it shall there see, and how
great a discovery death will make. But, O sirs,
when this must be your case, (as you know it must
be, alas, how speedily !) these matters will then seem
considerable : they will be new and strange to those
that have heard of them a hundred times, because
they never heard of them sensibly till now. One of
those souls that have been here before you, and have
passed into eternity, have other thoughts of these
things than you have ! O how do they think now,
of die fearless slumber and stupidity of those thafc

185

they have left behind ! What think they now of
those that wilfully fly the light, and flatter themselves
in guilt and misery, and make light of all the joys
and torments of the other world? Even as- the damned
rich man in Luke xvi. thought of his poor brethren,
that remained in prosperity and presumption upon
earth, and little thought what company he was in,
what a sight he saw, and what he did endure !

Poor careless souls ! you know not now what it
is, for the ungodly to see that they are ungodly, by
the irresistible light of another world ; and for the
unholy to feel in hell that they are unholy, and to
be taught by flames, and the wrath of the Almighty,
what is the difi'erence between the sanctified and the
carnal, between an obedient and a rebellious life.
While here, you little know these things: you see
them not, you feel them not; and the Lord granft
you may never so know them by woful experience.
That you may escape such a knowledge, is the end
of all that I am saying to you : but that will not be,
but by another kind of knowledge, even the know-
ledge of belief and serious consideration.

For your souls' sake, therefore, come to the light,
and try yourselves, and shuffle not over a work of
such unspeakable consequence, as the searching of
your hearts, and judging of your spiritual state ! O
be glad to know what you are indeed ! Put home the
question, ' Am I sanctified or not ? Am I in the
Spirit or in the flesh ?' Be glad of any help for the
sure resolution of such doubts. Take not up with
slight and venturous presumptions. It is your own
case; your nearest and your greatest case ; all lies
upon it : who should be so willing of the plainest

186

dealing, the speediest and the closest search, as you ?
O be not surprised by an unexpected sight of an un-
renewed, miserable soul at death ? If it be so, see it
now, while seeing it may do good : if it be not so,
a faithful search can do you no harm, but comfort
you by the discovery of your sincerity. Say not too
late, ' I ihouglit I had been born again of the Spi-
rit, and had been in a state of grace: I thought I
had been a child of God, and reconciled to him, and
justified by faith !' O what a heart-tearing word
would it be to you, when time is past, to say, ' I
thought it had been better with me !'

4. Consider, also, that It is one of Satan's princi-
pal designs of your damnation, to keep you ignorant
of yourselves. He knows, if he can but make you
believe that you are regenerate, when you are not,
you will never seek to be regenerate; and that if he
can make you think that you are godly, when you
are ungodly, and have the Spirit of Christ, while
you are servants to the flesh, he may defeat all the
labours of your teachers, and let them call on you to
be converted till their hearts ache, to no purpose, but
leave you as you are. He knows how light you will
sit by the physician, if he can but make you believe
that you are well ; and how little care you will take
for a pardon, if you think that you have one already.
In vain we may call on you to turn, and become new
creatures, and give up yourselves to Christ, if you
think that you are good Ciiristians, and are in the
way to heaven already.

And when you know beforehand, that there lieth
the principal game of the deceiver, and that it will be
his chief contrivance, to keep you unacquainted with

187

your sin and danger, till you are past recovery, one
would think there should be no need to bid you to
be diligent to know yourselves.

3. And I beseech you consider also, that without
this design there is no likelihood that Satan could
undo you: if he keep you not ignorant of yourselves,
he is never likely to keep you in his power: you
come out of his kingdom when you come out of
darkness. He knoweth that if once you did but
see how near you stand to the brink of hell, you
would think it time to change your standing.

There is a double principle in nature, that would
do something towards your repentance and recovery,
if your eyes were opened to see where you are.

1. There is, since the seduction and ruin of man,
by Satan's temptations, an enmity put into the whole
nature of man against the whole satanical, serpentine
nature; so that this natural enmity would so much
conduce to your deliverance, as that you would not
be contented with your relation, if you knew that
you are the slaves of the devil; nor would you be
charmed into sin so easily, if you knew that it is he
indeed that doth invite you: no language would be
so taking with you, which you knew was uttered by
his voice. It would do much to affright you from
his service, if you knew that it is he indeed that
setteth you on to work, and is gratified by it. He
kecpeth men in his bondage, by making them believe
that they are free : he pcrsuadeth men to obey him,
by persuading them that it is God that they obey:
and he draweth them to hcU by making them believe
that they are following Christ to heaven; or at least,
that they are following the inclination of their nature
in a pardonable infirmity.

188

2. And the natural principle of self-love would,
in order to self-preservation, do much to drive you
from your sinful state, if you did hut know what a
state it is. There is no man so far hateth himself,
as to be willing to be damned. You cannot choose
a habitation in hell; for such a place can never be
desired. Surely he that cannot choose but to fly
from an enemy, or from fire, or water, or pestilence,
when he perceives his danger, would fly from hell if
he perceived his danger.

I beseech you all, that are secure in an unsancti-
fied state, do but look inwards, and help me in
preaching this doctrine to your hearts, and tell your-
selves, whether you do think that your state is good,
and that you are the children of God as well as
others ; and that though you are sinners, yet your
sins are pardoned by the blood of Christ, and that
you shall be saved if you die in the state that you
are in? And are not these thoughts the reason why
you venture to continue in your present state, and
look not after so great a change as Scripture speaketh
of as necessary ?

And I pray you deal plainly with your hearts,
and tell me, you careless sinners, young or old, that
live here as quietly as if all were vvell with you, If
you did but know that you are at this hour unre-
generate, and that without regeneration there is no
salvation: if you did but know that you are yet car-
nal and unholy, and that " without holiness none
shall see God :" if you did but know that you are
yet in a state of enmity to God while you call him
Father, and of enmity to Christ, while you call him
your Saviour, and of enmity to the Holy Spirit,

189

while you call him your Sanctifier : if you did but
know, that your sins are unpardoned, and your souls
unjustified, and that you are condemned already,
and shall certainly be damned if you die as you are,
Could you live quietly in such a state ? Could you
sleep, and eat, and drink quietly, and follow your
trades, and let time run on without repenting and
returning unto God, if you knew that you are past
hope, if death surprise you in this condition ? For
the Lord's sake, sirs, rouse up yourselves a little,
and be serious in a business that concerneth you
more than ten thousand natural lives; and tell me,
or rather tell yourselves, If you did but know that
while you live here, you are unrenewed, and there-
fore under the curse of God, and in the bondage of
the devil, and are hastening towards perdition, if you
be not sanctified and made new creatures before you
die — could you forbear going alone, and there bethink
yourselves, ' O what a sinful, dreadful condition are
we in! What will become of us, if we be not re-
generate before we die ! Had we no understand-
ings, no hearts, no life or sense, that we have lin-
gered so long, and lived so carelessly in such a state!
O where had we been now, if we had died unregen-
erate ! How near have we been oft to death ! How
many sicknesses might have put an end to life and
hope ! Had we died before this day, we had been
now in hell without remedy.' Could any of you
that knew this to be your case, forbear to betake
yourselves to God, and cry to him, in the bitterness
of your souls, ' O Lord, what rebels, what wretches
have we been! We have sinned against heaven and
before thee, and are no more worthy to be called

190

thy children ! O how sin Iiath captivated our un-
standings, and conquered our very sense, and made
us live like men that were dead, as to the love and
service of God, and the work of our salvation, which
we were created and redeemed for ! O Lord, have
mercy upon these blind and senseless miserable
souls ! Have mercy upon these despisers and abusers
of thy mercy ! O save us or we perisli ! Save us
from our sins, from Satan, from thy curse and
wrath 1 Save us, or we are undone and lost for
ever ! Save us from the unquencliable fire, from
the worm that never dieth ! from the bottomless pit,
the outer darkness, the horrid gulf of endless misery !
O let the bowels of thy compassion yearn over us !
O save us for thy mercy sake; shut not out the cries
of miserable sinners. Regenerate, renew, and sanc-
tify our hearts ; O make us new creatures ! O plant
thine image on our souls, and incline tliem towards
thee, that they may be wholly thine ! O make us
such as thou commandest us to be ! Away with
our sins, and sinful pleasures, and sinful company !
We have had too much, too much of them already !
Let us now be thine, associated with them that love
and fear thee; employed in the works of holiness
and obedience all our days ! Lord, we are willing
to let go our sins, and to be thy servants : or if we
be not, make us willing.'

What say you, sirs, if you knew that you were
this hour in a state of condemnation, could you for-
bear making haste with such confessions, complaints,
and earnest supplications to God ? And could you
forbear going presently to some faithful minister, or
godly friend, and telling him your case and danger,

191

and begging his advice, and prayers, and asking
him, what a poor sinner must do to be recovered,
pardoned, and saved, that is so deep in sin and
misery, and hath despised Christ and grace so long?
Could you tell how to sleep quietly many nights
more, before you had earnestly sought for help, and
made this change? How could ^ you choose but
presently betake yourselves to the company, and
converse, and examples of the godly that are within
your reach ? (For whenever a man is truly changed,
his friendship and company is changed, if he have
opportunity.) And how could you choose but go
and take your leave of your old companions, and
with tears and sorrow tell them, how foolishly and
sinfully you have done, and what wrong you have
done each other's souls, and entreat them to repent
and do so no more, or else you will renounce them,
and fly from their company as from a pestilence ?

Cnn a man forbear thus to fly from hell, if he
saw that he is as near it as a condemned traitor to
the gallows? He that will beg for bread, if he be
hungry, would beg for grace, if he saw and felt how
much he needeth it: and seeing it, is the way to
feel it. He that will seek for medicines when he
is sick, and would do almost any thing to escape a
temporal death, would he not seek to Christ, the
remedy of his soul, if he knew and felt that other-
wise there is no recovery ? and would he not do
much atrainst eternal death ? " Skin for skin, and
all that a man hath, he will give for his life," was a
truth that the devil knew, and maketh use of in his
temptations. And will a man then be regardless of
his soul, that knows he hath an immortal soul ? and

192

of life eternal, that knows his danger of eternal
death ?

O, sirs, it is not possible, but the true knowledge
of your state of sin and danger, would do very much
to save you from it. For it is a wilful, chosen
state. All the devils in hell cannot bring you to it,
and continue you in it against your will. You are
willing of the sin, though unwilling of the punish-
ment. And if you truly knew the punishment,
and your danger of it, you would be the more un-
willing of the sin ; for God hath affixed punishment
to sin for this end, that they that else would love
the serpent, may hate it for the sting./ Foreseeing
is to a man, what seeing is, to a beast ; if he see it
before his eyes, a beast will not easily be driven
into a coal-pit or a gulf; he will draw back and
' strive, if you go about to kill him. And is he a
man, or some monster that wants a name, that will
go on to hell, when he seeth it, as it were, before
him ? and that will continue in a state of sin, when
he knows he must be damned in hell for ever, if he
so continue to the end ? | Indeed sin is the defor-
mity of the soul. He is a monster of blindness
that seeth not the folly and peril of such a state,
and that a state of holiness is better. And he is a
monster of slothfulness, that will not stir when he
finds himself in such a case, and seek for mercy, and
value the remedy, and use the means, and forsake
his sinful course and company, till mercy take him
up and bring him home, and make him welcome, as
" one that was lost but now is found, was dead, but
is alive,"

I do not doubt, for all these expostulations, but

193

some men may be such monsters, as thus to see
that they are in a state of wrath and misery, and yet
continue in it.

As, 1. Such as have but a gHmmeriiig, insuffi-
cient sight of it, and a half beHef, while a greater
belief and hope of the contrary, that is, presumption,
is predominant at the heart. But these are rather
to be called men ignorant of their misery, than men
that know it; and men that believe it not, than men
that do believe it, as long as the ignorance and pre-
sumption is the prevailing part.

2. Such as, by the rage of appetite and passion,
are hurried into deadly sin, and so continue, when-
ever the tempter offereth them the bait against their
conscience, and some apprehension of their misery.
But these have commonly a prevalent self-flattery
secretly within, encouraging and upholding them in
their sin, and telling them, that the reluctancies of
their consciences are the Spirit's strivings against
the flesh, and their fits of remorse are true repen-
tance; and though they are sinners, they hope they
are pardoned, and shall be saved, so that these do
not know themselves indeed.

3. Such as, by their deep engagements in the
world, and love of its prosperity, and a custom in
sinning, are so hardened, and cast into a slumber,
that though they have a secret knowledge, or sus-
picion, that their case is miserable, yet they are not
awakened to the due consideration and feeling of it;
and therefore they go on as if they knew it not: but
these have not their knowledge in exercise. It is
but a candle in a dark lantern, that now and then
gives them a convincing flash, when the right side

I 45

happens to be towards them ; or like liglUning, tliat
rather frightens and amnzcth them, than directeth
them. And, as I said of the former, their self-
ignorance is the predominant part, and therefore
they cannot be said indeed to know themselves.

4. Such as, being in youth or health, do promise
themselves long life, or others that foolishly put
away the day of death, and think they have yet time
enough before them ; and therefore, though they
are convinced of their misery, and know they must
be converted or condemned, do yet delay, and quiet
themselves with purposes to repent hereafter, when
death draws near, and there is no other remedy but
they must leave their sins, or give up all their hopes
of heaven. Though these know somewhat of their
present misery, it is but an ineffectual knowledge ;
and they know little of the wickedness of their
hearts, while they confess them wicked, otherwise
they could not imagine, that repentance is so easy a
work to such as they, as that- they can perform it
when their hearts are further hardened, and that
their salvation may be ventured on it by delays.
Did they know themselves, they would know the
backwardness of their hearts; and manifold difficul-
ties should make them see the madness of delays,
and of longer resisting and abusing the grace of the
Spirit, that must convert them, if ever they be saved.

5. Such as have light to show them their misery,
but live where they hear not the discovery of the
remedy, and are left without any knowledge of a
Saviour. I deny not but such may go on in a state
of misery, though they know it, when they know
no way out of it.

195

6. Such as believe not the remedy, though they
hear of it, but think that Christ is not to be be-
lieved in, as the Saviour of the world.

7. Such as beheve that Christ is the Redeemer,
but beheve not that he will have mercy upon them,
as supposing their hearts are not qualified for his
salvation, nor £ver will be, because the day of grace
is past, and he hath concluded them under a sen-
tence of reprobation ; and therefore thinking that
there is no hope, and that their endeavours would
be all in vain, they cast off all endeavours, and give
up themselves to the pleasures of the flesh, and say,
' It is as good to be damned for something, or for
a greater matter, as for a less.'

So that there are three sorts of despair, that are
not equally dangerous. 1. A despair of pardon and
salvation, arising from infidelity, as if the Gospel
were not true, nor Christ a Saviour to be trusted
with our souls, if predominant, is damnable. 2. A
despair of pardon and salvation, arising from a mis-
understanding of the promise, as if it pardoned not
such sins as ours, and denied mercy to those that
have sinned so long as we ; this is not damnable ne-
cessarily of itself, because it implieth faith in Christ ;
and not infidelity, but misunderstanding, hindereth
the applying, comforting act; and therefore this ac-
tual personal despair, is accompanied with a general
actual hope, and with a particular personal, virtual
hope. 3. A despair of pardon and salvation, upon
the misunderstanding of ourselves, as thinking both
that we are graceless, and always shall be so, because
of the blindness and hardness of our hearts. Of
this despair, I say as of the former, it is joined
J 2

196

with faith, and with general and virtual hope: and,
therefore, is not the despair that, of itself, con-
demneth. Many may be saved that are too much
guilty of it-

But if either of these two latter sorts shall so far
prevail, as to turn men off from a holy, to a fleshly,
worldly interest and Hfe, and make them say, ' We
will take our pleasure while we may, and will have
something for our souls before we lose them,' and
do accordingly; this kind of desperation is damnable
by the effects, because it takes men off the means of
life, and giveth thera up to damning sins.

Thus I have showed you of seven sorts of persons
that may know themselves, their sin and danger, with
such an ineffectual, partial knowledge as I have
described, and yet continue in that sin and misery.

And in two cases, even sound believers may pos-
sibly go on to sin, when they see the sin: and not
only see the danger of it, but despairingly think it
greater than it is. As, 1. In case of common, un-
avoidable failings, infirmities, and low degrees of
grace : we are all imperfect, and yet we all know
that it is our duty to be perfect, (as perfection is
opposed to sinful, and not to innocent perfection,)
and vet this knowledge maketh us not perfect. We
know we should be more humbled, and more be-
lieving, and more watchful, and love God more, and
fear and trust him more, and be more fruitful and
diligent, and obedient and zealous ; and yet we are
not what we know we should be in any of these.
In these we all live in sin against knowledge; else
we should be all as good as we know we ought to
be, which no man is. And if, through temptation.

197

any of us should be ready to despair, because of any
of these infirmities, because we cannot repent, or
love God, watch, or pray, or obey more perfectly,
or as we should, yet grace ceaseth not to be grace,
though in the least degree, because we are ready to
despair for want of more. Nor will the sincerity of
this spark, or grain of mustard seed, be unsuccessful,
as to our salvation, because we think so, and take
ourselves to be insincere, and our sanctification to be
none; nor yet because we cannot be as obedient and
good as we know we should be. For the Gospel
saith not, ' He that knoweth he hath faith or sin-
cerity shall be saved ; and he that knoweth it not,
shall be damned : or he that is less holy or obedient
than his conscience tells him he should be, shall be
damned.' But, " He that believeth and repenteth,
shall be saved," whether he know it to be done in
sincerity or not : and " he that doth not, shall be
damned," though he ever so confidently think he ■
doth. So that, in the degrees of holiness and obe-
dience, all Christians ordinarily sin against know-
ledge.

2. And besides what is ordinary, some extraor-
dinarily, in the time of a powerful temptation, go
further than ordinarily they do. And some, under
melancholy or choleric distempers of body, or under
a diseased, violent appetite, may transgress more
against their knowledge, than otherwise they would
do. When the spirits are flattened, the thoughts
confused, the reason weakened, the passion strength-
ened, and the executive faculties indisposed, so that •
their actions are but imperfectly human or moral;
(imperfectly capable of virtue or vice, good or evil)

198

it is no wonder here, if poor souls not only perceive
their sin, but think it and the danger to be tenfold
greater than tliey are, and yet go on against their
knowledge, and yet have true grace.

This much I have said, both to stay you from
misunderstanding what I said before, concerning the
power of conviction to conversion, and also to help
you to the fuller understanding of the matter itself,
of which I treat. But exceptions strengthen and
not weaken any rule or proposition in the points not
excepted. Still I say, that out of these cases, the
true knowledge of a sinful, miserable state, is so
great a help to bring us out of it, that it is hardly
imaginable, how rational men can wilfully continue in
a state of such exceeding danger, if tliey be but well
acquainted that they are in it. I know a hardened
heart hath an unreasonable, obstinate opposition
against the means of its own recovery: but yet men
have some use of reason and self-preserving love and
care, or they are not men. And though little
transient lightnings often come to nothing, but leave
some men in greater darkness; yet could we but set
up a standing light in all your consciences, could we
fully convince and resolve the unregenerate, that they
cannot be saved in the carnal state they are in, but
must be sanctified or never saved; what hopes
should we have, that all the subtleties and snares of
Satan, and all the pleasures and gain of sin, and all
the allurements of ungodly company, could no longer
hinder you from falling down at the feet of mercy,
and begging forgiveness, through the blood of
Christ, and giving up yourselves in covenant to the
Lord, and speedily and resolutely betaking your-

199

selves to a holy life ! Could I but make you tho-
roughly known unto yourselves, I should hope that
all the unsanctified would date their conversion from
this very day; and that you would not delay till the
next morning, to bewail your sin and misery, and
fly to Christ, lest you should die, and be past hope
this night.

And doth so much of our work, and of your re-
covery, lie upon this point, and yet sh;ill we not 1)8
able to accomplish it ? Might you be brought into
the way to heaven, if we could but persuade you
that you arc yet out of the way ; and will you be
undone, because you will not suiFer so small and
reasonable a part of the cure as this ? O God for-
bid ! O that we knew how to illuminate your
minds so far, as to make you find tliat you are lost!
hovv ready would Christ be then to find you, and to
receive and welcome you, upon your return ! Here
is the first difficulty, which if we could but overcome,
we should hope to conquer all the rest. O that any
of you that know the nature of self-deceit, and know
the fallacious reasonings of tiie heart, could tell us
but how we might undeceive them ! O that any
of you that know the nature of human understand-
ing, with its several maladies, and their cure, and
know the power of saving truth, could tell ns what
key will undo this lock! what medicine will cure
this disease, of wilful, obstinate, self-deceiving !
Think but on the case cf our poor people, and of
ours, and sure you cannot choose but pity both them
and us. We are all professors of the Christian
faith, and all say we believe the word of God. This
word assureth us, that all men are fallen in Adam,

200

and are " by nature children of wrath," and increase
in sin and misery, till supernatural grace recover
them. It tells us, that the Redeemer is become, by
office, the Physician or Saviour of souls ; washing
away their guilt by his blood, and renewing and
cleansing their corrupted natures by his Spirit. It
tells us, that he will freely work the cure, for all
that will take him for their physician, and will for-
give and save them that penitently fly to him, and
value, and accept, and trust in his grace : and that
except they be thus made new creatures, all the world
cannot save them from everlasting wrath. This is
the doctrine that we all believe, or say we believe.
Thus doth it open the case of sinners. We come
now, according to our office, and the trust reposed
in us, and we tell our hearers what the Scripture
saith of man, and what it commandeth us to tell
them. We tell them of their fall, their sin and
misery ; of the Redeemer, and the sure and free
salvation, which they may have if they will but come
to him. But, alas ! we cannot make them believe
that they are so sick, as to have need of the Physi-
cian : and that they are dead, and have need of a
new creation, as to the inclination of their hearts,
and the end, and bent, and business of their lives.
We are sent to tender them the mercy of Christ,
but we cannot make them believe that they are
miserable. We are sent to offer them the riches,
and eye-salve, and white raiment of the Gospel;
but we cannot make them know that they are poor,
and blind, and naked. We are sent to call them
to repent and turn, that they may be saved; and we
cannot make them know that they need a change of

heart and life. Here they sit before us, and we
look on them with pity, and know not how to help
them. We look on them, and think, Alas, poor
souls, you little see what death will quickly make
you see ! You will then see that there is no salva-
tion, by all the blood and merits of Christ, for any
but the sanctified : but O that we could now make you
understand it ! We look on them with compassion;
and think, Alas, poor souls, a change is near ! It
will be thus with you but a little while, and where
will you be next ? We know, as sure as the word
of God is true, that they must be converted and
sanctified, or be lost for ever: and we cannot make
them believe, but that the work is done already.
The Lord knoweth, and our consciences witness to
our shame, that we be not half so sensible of their
misery, nor so compassionate towards them as we
ought to be. But yet sometimes our hearts melt
over them, and fain we would save them from the
" wrath to come;" and we should have great hopes
of the success, if we could but make them know
their danger. It melts our hearts to look on them,
and think that they are so near damnation, and
never likely to escape it, till they know it ; till they
know that their corruption is so^reat, that nothing
but the quickening Spirit can recover them, and no-
thing less than to become new creatures will serve
the turn. O that wc knew how to get within them,
to open the windows, that the light of Christ might
show them their condition ! But when we have
done all, we find it past our power. We know they
will be past help in hell, if they die before they are
regenerate. And could we but get themselves to
I 3

202

know it, they would bettor look about tbcm and be
saved. But we are not able. It is more than we can
do. We cannot get the grossest worldling, the bas-
est sensualist, the proudest child of the spirit of
pride, to know that he is in a state of condemnation,
and must be sanctified or be damned. Much less
can we procure the formal Pharisee, thus to know
himself. We can easily get them to confess that
they are sinners, and deserve damnation, and cannot
be saved without Christ ; but this will not serve :
the best saint on earth must say as much as this.
There are converted and unconverted sinners, sanc-
tified and unsanctified sinners, pardoned and unpar-
doned sinners ; sinners that are members of Christ,
the children of God, and heirs of heaven, and sin-
ners that are not so. They must know not only
that they are sinners, but that they are yet uncon-
verted, unsanctified, unpardoned sinners ; not only
that they cannot be saved without Christ, but that
they have no special interest in Christ : they will
not so value and seek for conversion, and remission,
and adoption, as to obtain them, while they think
they have them already. They will not come to
Christ that they may have life, while they think
tliey have part in Christ already. Paul, after his
conversion, was a sinner, and had need of Christ:
but Paul, before his conversion, was an unsanctified,
unjustified sinner, and had no part in Christ. This
is the state of sin and misery that you must come
out of, or yon are lost : and how can you be brouglit
out of it, till you know^that you are in it ?

O therefore that we knew how to make you know
it ! How should we make poor sinners see that

^03

they are within a few steps of everlasting fire, that
we might induce them to run away from it, and be
saved ! We cry so often, and lose our labour, and
leave so many in their security and self-deceits, that
we are discouraged, and remit our desires, and lose
our compassion ; and, alas ! grow dull, and too in-
sensible of their case, and preach too often as coldly
as if we could be content to let them perish. We
are too apt to grow weary of holding the light to
men asleep, or that shut their eyes and will not see
it. When all that we have said is not regarded,
and we know not what more to say, this damps our
spirits ; this makes so many of us preach almost as
carelessly as we are heard. Regardless, sleepy
hearers, make regardless, sleepy preachers. Fre-
quent frustration abatelh hope : and the fervour and
diligence of prosecution ceaseth^ as hope abateth.
This is our fault : your insensibility is no good ex-
cuse for ours: but it is a fault not easily avoided.

And when we are stopped at the first door, and
cannot conquer Satan's outworks, what hope have we
of going further? If all that we can say, will not
convince you that you are yet unsanctified and un-
jxistified, how shall we get you to the duties that
belong to such, in order to the attainment of this
desirable state ?

And, here, I think it not unreasonable to inform
you, why the most able, faithful ministers of Christ
do search so deep, and speak so hardly of the case of
unrenewed souls, as much displeaseth many of their
hearers, and makes them say, they are too severe and
terrible preachers. The zealous Antinomian saith,
they are legalists ; and the profane Antinomian saith,

^04

they rail and preach not mercy, but judgment only,
and would drive men to despair. But will they tell
God he is a legalist, for making the law, even the
Gospel law, as well as the law of nature, and com-
manding us to preach it to the world ? Shall they
escape the sentence, by reproaching the law-maker?
Will not God judge the world ; and judge them by
a law ; and will he not be just, and beyond the reach
of their reproach ? O, sinner, this is not the small-
est part of thy terror, that it is the Gospel that speaks
this terror to thee, and excludes thee from salvation,
unless thou be made new : it is mercy itself that thus
condemneth thee, and judgeth thee to endless misery.
You are mistaken, sirs, when you say we preach not
mercy, and say we preach not the Gospel, but the
law: it is the Gospel that saith, "Except a man be born
again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven !
and that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ,
the same is none of his." The same Gospel that
saith, " He that believeth shall be saved," saith
also, that " He that believeth not shall be damned."
Will you tell Christ, the Saviour of the world, that
he is not merciful, because he talks to you of dam-
nation ? Mercy itself, when it tells you that " there
is no condemnation," doth limit this pardon to them
*' that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit." It is sanctifying mercy
that must save you, if ever you be saved, as well as
justifying mercy. And will you refuse this mercy,
and by no entreaty yield to have it, and yet think to
be saved by it ? What ! saved by that mercy which
you will not have ? - And will you say, we preach
not mercy, because we tell you, that mercy will not

205

save you, if you continue to reject it ? To be saved
by mercy without sanctification, is to be saved and
not saved ; to be saved by mercy, without mercy:
your words have no better sense than this. And are
those afraid, lest preachers should make thera mad,
by showing them their need of mercy, that are no
wiser than to cast away their souls upon such sense-
less, self-contradicting conceits as these?

I beseech you, tell us whose words are they, that
say, " Without holiness none shall see God ?" and
that " He that is in Christ, is a new creature," and
such like passages which offend you. Are they ours,
or are they God's ? Did we indite the Holy Scrip-
tures, or did the Holy Ghost ? Is it hard of us, if
there be any words there that cross your flesh, and
that you call bitter ? Can we help it, if God will
save none but sanctified believers ? If you have any
thing to say against it, you must say it to him : we are
sure that this is in his word : and we are sure he can-
not lie : and, therefore, wc are sure it is true. We
are sure that he may do with his own as he list, and
that he oweth you nothing, and that he may give his
pardon and salvation to whom, and upon what terms
he please: and, therefore, we are sure he doth you
no wrong. But if you think otherwise, reproach
not us that are but messengers; but prepare your
charge, and make it good against your Maker, if you
dare and can. You shall shortly come before him,
and be put to it to justify yourselves : if you can do
it by recrimination, and can prevent your condemna-
tion, by condemning the law and the Judge, try
your strength and do your worst.

Ah, poor worms ! dare you Uft up the head, and

206

move a tongue ngainst tlie Lord ! Did Iiifiiiiic
^^'isdom itself want wisdom, to make a law to rule
the world? And did Infinite Goodness want good-
ness to deal mercifully, and as was best with man !
And shall Justice itself be judged to be unjust ? and
that by you ! by such silly, ignorant, and unrigh-
teous ones as you ! as if you had the wisdom and
goodness, which you think God wanted when he
made his laws !

And whereas you tell us of preaching terribly to
you, we cannot help it, if the true and righteous
threatenings of God be terrible to the guilty. It is
because we know the terrors of the Lord, that we
preach them, to warn you to prevent them. And
so did the apostles before us. Either it is true that
the unquenchable fire will be the poition of impeni-
tent, unbelieving, fleshly, worldly, unsanctified men,
or it is not true. If it were not true, the word of
God were not true : and, then, what should you do
with any preaching at all, or any religion ! But if
you confess it to be true, do you think in reason it
should be silenced ? Or, can we tell men of so ter-
rible a thing as hell, and tell them that it will cer-
tainly be their lot, unless they be new creatures, and
not speak terribly to them ! O, sirs, it is the won-
der of my soul that it seemeth no more terrible, to
all the ungodly, that think they do believe it. Yea,
and I would it did seem more terrible, that it might
affright you from your sin to God, and you miglit
be saved. If you were running ignorantly into a
eoal-pit, would you revile him tiiat told you of it,
and bid you stop if you love your life ! would you
tell him that he speaks bitterly or terribly to you ?

207

It is not the preacher that is the cause of your dan-
ger : he doth but tell you of it, that you may
escape. If you are saved, you may thank him : but
if you are lost, you may thank yourselves. It is
you that deal bitterly and terribly with yourselves.
Telling you of hell doth not make hell : warning
you of it, is not causing it : nor is it God that is
unmerciful, but you are foolishly cruel and unmerci-
ful to yourselves. Do not think to despise the pa-
tience and mercy of the Lord, and then think to
escape, by accusing him of being unmerciful, and by
saying, it is a terrible doctrine that we preach to you,
impenitent sinners ! I confess to thee it is ter-
rible, and more terrible than thy senseless heart
imagineth. One day, if grace prevent it not, thou
shall find it ten thousand times more terrible than
thou canst apprehend it now. , When thou seest
tliv JudjTc, with millions of his angels, comiu" to
condemn thee, thou wilt then say his laws are ter-
rible indeed. Thou hast to do with a lioly, jealous
God, who is a "consuming fire;" andean such a
God be despised, and not be terrible to thee? He
is called, " The great, the mighty, and the terrible
God." " With God is terrible majesty." " He
is terrible out of his holy place." " He is terrible
to the greatest, even to the kings of the earth." It
is time for you, therefore, to tremble and submit,
and think how unable you are to contend with him :'
and not revile his word or works, because they are
terrible ; but fear him for them, and study them on
purpose that you may fear and glorify him. And as
David, " Say unto God, How terrible art thou in
thy works ! Through the greatness of thy power

208

shall thy enemies submit themselves unto thee—
Come and see the works of the Lord f He is ter-
rible in his doings towards the children of men,"
" Let them praise thy great and terrible name, for
it is holy." And will you reproach God, or his
word, or works, or ministers, with that which is the
matter of his praise? If it be terrible to hear of
the wrath of God, how terrible will it be to feel it ?
Choose not a state of terror to yourselves, and
preaching will be less terrible to you. Yield to the
sanctifying work of Christ, and receive his Spirit :
and then that which is terrible to others will be com-
fortable to you. What terror is it to the regenerate
(that knoweth himself to be such), to hear that none
but the regenerate shall be saved? What terror is
it to them that mind the things of the Spirit, to hear
of the misery of a fleshly mind, and that they that
live after the flesh shall die ? The word of God is
full of terror to the ungodly: but return with all
your hearts to God, and then what word of God
speaks terror to you? Truly, sirs, it is more in
your power than ours, to make our preaching easy
and less terrible to you ! We cannot change our
doctrine, but you may change your state and lives:
we cannot preach another Gospel, but you may
obey the Gospel which we preach. Obey it, and it
will be the most comfortable word to you in the
world. We cannot make void the word of God,
but you may avoid the stroke by penitent submission.
Do you think it fitter to change our Master's word,
and falsify the laws of God Almighty, or for you to
change your crooked courses, which are condemned
by his word, and to let go the sin which the law

209

forbiddeth ? It is you that must change and not
the law. It is you that must be conformed to it,
and not the rule that must be made crooked to con-
form to you.

Say not as Ahab of Michaiah, of the minister :
" I hate him, for he prophesieth not good of me,
but evil for a Balaam could profess, that if the
king " would give him his house full of silver and
gold, he could not go beyond the word of the Lord
bis God, to do less or more," or " to do either good
or bad of his own mind." What good would it do
you for a preacher to tell you a lie, and say that you
may be pardoned and saved in an impenitent, un-
sanctified state ? Do you think our saying so,
would make it so ? Will God falsify his word to
make good ours? Or would he not deal with us as
perfidious messengers that had betrayed our trust,
and belied him, and deceived your souls ? And would
it save an unregenerate man to have Christ condemn
the minister for deceiving him, and telling him that
he may be saved in such a state ?

Do but let go the odious sin that the word of
God doth speak so ill of, and then it will speak no
ill of you.

Alas, sirs, what would you have a poor minister
do, when God's command doth cross your pleasure;
and when he is sure to offend either God or you ?
Which should he venture to offend? If he help
not the ungodly to know their misery, he ofTendeth
God: if he do it he ofFendeth them. If he tell you,
that " All they shall be damned that believe not the
truth, that have pleasure in unrighteousness," your
hearts rise against him for talking of damnation to

210

you: and yet it is but the words of the Holy Ghost,
which we are bound to preach ! If he tell you that
" If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die," you will
be angry, and if he do not tell you so, God will be
angry ; for it is his express determination. And
whose anger, think you, should a wise man choose ;
or whose should he most resolutely avoid — the anger
of the dreadful God of heaven, or yours? Your
anger we can bear; but his anger is intolerable.
When you have railed, and slandered us and our
doctrine, we can live yet; or if you kill the body you
can do no more : you do but send us before, to be
witnesses against you, when you come to judgment.
But who can live, when God will pour out wrath
upon him ? We may keep your slanders and in-
dignation from our hearts; but it is the heart that
the heart-scarcliing God contendcth with: and who
can heal the heart which he will break? You may
reach the flesh ; but he that is a Spirit can afflict
and wound the spirit: " And a wounded spirit who
can bear?" Would you not yourselves say he were
worse than mad, that would rather abuse the eternal
God, than cross the misguided desires of such worms
as you; that would displease God to please you, and
sell his love to purchase yours? Will you be in-
stead of God to us, when we have lost his favour?
W^iU you save us from him, whom he scndeth for
our souls by death, or sentenceth us to hell by judg-
ment? Silly souls! how happy were you, could you
save yourselves ! Will you be our gods if we for-
sake our God? Blame not God to use them as
enemies and rebels, that will change him for such
earthen gods as you. We have one God, and but

211

one, and he must be obeyed, whether you like or
disUke it : " There is one Lawgiver that is able to
save and destroy," and he must be pleased, whether
it please your carnal minds or not. If your wisdom
now will take the chair, and judge tlie preaching of
the Gospel to be foolishness, or the searching appli-
cation of it to be too much harshness and severity, I
am sure you shall come dovvn ere long, and hear his
sentence that will convince you, that the " wisdom
of the world is foolishness with God, and the fool-
ishness of God (as blasphemy dare call it) is wiser
than men." And God will be the final Judge, and
his word shall stand when you have done your worst.
The worst that the serpent can do, is but to hiss
awhile and put forth the sting, and bruise our heel ;
but God's day will be the bruising of his head, and
" Satan shall be bruised under feet."

The sun will shine, and the light thereof discover
your deformities, whether you will or not. And if
adulterers or thieves, that love the works of dark-
ness, will do their worst by force or flattery, they
cannot make it cease its shining, though they may
shut their eyes, or hide themselves in darkness from
its light. Faithful teachers are the " lights of tlie
world." They are not lighted by the Holy Ghost,
to be " put under a bushel, but on a candlestick,
that they may give light to all that are in the house."
What would you do with teachers but to teach you?
and what should they make known to you, if not
yourselves?

\erily, sirs, a sinner under the curse of the law,
unsanctified and unpardoned, is not in a state to be
jested and dallied with, unless you can play in the

212

flames of hell: it is plain dealing that he needs.
A quibbling, flashy sermon, is not the proper medi-
cine for a lethargic, miserable soul, nor fit to break
a stony heart, nor to bind up a heart that is kindly
broken. Heaven and hell should not be talked of
in a canting, or pedantic strain. A Seneca can tell
you, that it is'a physician that is skilful, and not one
that is eloquent, that we need. It is a cure that we
need ; and the means are best, be they ever so
sharp, that will accomplish it. Serious, reverend
gravity, best suiteth with matters of such incompre-
hensible concern. You may play with words when
the case will bear it : but as dropping of beads is too
ludicrous for one that is praying to be saved from
the flames of hell ; so a sleepy, or a histrionical
speech, is too light and unlikely a means to call
back a sinner that is posting to perdition, and must
be humbled and renewed by the Spirit, or be for
ever damned. This is your case, sirs: and do you
think the playing of a part upon a stage doth fit
your case ? O, no ! So great a business requireth
all the serious earnestness in the speaker that he
can use. I am sure you will think so, ere long,
yourselves; and you will then think well of the
preachers that faithfully acquainted you with your
case: and (if they succeed to your perdition) you
will curse those that smoothed you up in your pre-
sumption, and hid your danger, by false doctrine,
or misapplication. God can make use of clay and
spittle to open the eyes of men born blind; and of
rams-horns to bring down the walls of Jericho: but
usually he fitteth the means to the end, and works
on man agreeably to his nature : and therefore, if a

213

blind understanding must be enlightened, you cannot
expect that it should be done by glow-worms, but
by bringing into your souls the powerful celestial
truth, which shall show you the hidden corners of
your hearts, and the hidden mysteries of the Gospel,
and the unseen things of the other world. If a
hardened heart be to be broken, it is not stroking,
but striking that must do it. It is not the sounding
brass, the tinkling cymbal, the carnal mind pulFed
up with superficial knowledge, that is the instrument
fitted to the renewing of men's souls: but it is he
that can acquaint you with what he himself hath
been savingly acquainted. The heart 4s not melted
into godly sorrow, nor raised to the life of faith and
love, by a game at words, or useless notions, but by
the illuminating beams of sacred truth, and the
attraction of Divine displayed goodness, communi-
cated from a mind that by faith hath seen the glory
of God, and by experience found that he is good,
and that liveth in the love of God : such a one is
fitted to assist you, first in the knowledge of your-
selves, and then in the knowledge of God in Christ.

Did you consider what is the office of the ministry,
you would soon know what ministers do most faith-
fully perform their office, and what kind of teaching
and oversight you should desire: and then you
would be reconciled to the light: and would choose
the teacher (could you have your choice) that would
do most to help you to know yourselves, and know
the Lord.

I beseech you judge of our work by our com-
mission, and judge of it by your own necessities.
Have you more need to be acquainted with your sin

214

and danger? or to be pleased with a set of handsome
words, which, when they are said, do leave you as
they found you; and leave no light, and life, and
heavenly love upon your hearts: that have no sub-
stance that you can feed upon in the review ?

And what our commission is you may find in
many places of the Scripture : " When I say unto
the wicked, thou shalt surely die; and thou givest
him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked
from his wicked way, to save his life; the same
wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood
will I require at thy hand : yet if thou warn the
wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor
from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity,
but thou hast delivered thy soul :" and " If thou
warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not,
and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he
is warned, also thou hast delivered thy soul."

And what if they distaste our doctrine, must we
forbear? "Tell them, thus saith the Lord God,
whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear."
So Ezek. xxxiii. 1 — 10.

You know what became of Jonah for refusing to
deliver God's threalenings against Nineveh.

Christ's stewards must give to each his portion.
He himself threateneth damnation to the impenitent,
the hypocrites, and unbelievers, (Luke xiii. 3, 5.
Mark xvi. IG. Matt. xxiv. 51.) Paul saith of him-
self, " If I yet pleased men, I should not be the
servant of Christ." Patience and meekness is
commanded to the ministers of Christ, even in
the instructing of opposcrs, but to what end, but
*' that they may escape out of the snare of the devil,

215

ulio are taken captive by him at his will?" So that,
with all our meekness, we must be so plain with you
as to make you know that you are Satan's captives,
taken alive by him in his snares, till God, by giving
you repentance, shall recover you.

The very office of the preachers sent by Christ
was " to open men's eyes, and turn them from dark-
ness to light, and from the power of Satan unto
God, that they may receive remission of sins, and
inheritance v,'ith the sanctified by faith in Christ;"
which telleth you, that we must let men understand,
that till they are converted and sanctified, they are
blind, and in the power of Satan, far from God;
unpardoned, and having no part in the inheritance
of saints.

Christ tells the Pharisees, that they were of their
father the devil, when they boasted that God was
their Father. And how plainly he tells them of
their hypocrisy, and asked them how they escape
the damnation of hell, you may see in Matt, xxiii.

Paul thought it his duty to tell Elymas, that he
*' was full of all subtlety and mischief, the child of
the devil, and the enemy of all righteousness, a per-
verter of the right ways of the Lord." And Peter
thought meet to tell Simon Magus, that he had
" neither part nor lot in that matter: that his heart
was not right in the sight of God;" that he was in
" the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity."

The charge of Paul to Timothy is plain and
urgent, *' I charge thee before God, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the
dead at his appearing and his kingdom ; Preach the
word; be instant in season and out of season; reprove,

216

rebuke, exhort." And to Titus, " Rebuke them
sharply, that they may be sound in the faith."

Judge now, whether ministers must deal plainly
or deceitfully with you, and whether it be the search-
ing, healing truth that they must bring you, or
& smooth tale that hath no salt or savour in it.
And would you have us break these laws of God,
for nothing but to deceive you and tell you a lie,
and make the ungodly believe that he is godly, or to
hide the truth that is necessary to your salvation?
Is the knowledge of yourselves so intolerable a thing
to you ?

Beloved, either it is true that you are yet unsanc-
tified, or it is not. If it be not, it is none of our
desire you should think so : but if it be true, tell me,
why would you not know it ? I hope it is not be-
cause you would not be tormented before the time.
I hope you think not that we delight to vex men's
consciences with fear, or to see men live in grief and
trouble, rather than in well-grounded peace and joy.
And if indeed you are yet unregenerate, that is not
severe in us that tell you of it, but of yourselves that
wilfully continue it. Do we make you ungodly, by
telling you of your ungodliness? Is it we that hin-
der the forgiveness of your sins, by letting you know
that they are not forgiven ? O no ! we strive for
your conversion, to this end that your sins may be
forgiven; and you hinder the forgiveness of them,
by refusing to be converted. When God forsaketh
stubborn souls for resisting his grace, note how he
expresseth his severity against them : "That seeing
they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may
hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should

217

be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them."
You see here, that till they are converted, men's sins
are not forgiven them; and that whoever procureth
the forgiveness of their sins, must do it by procuring
their conversion ; and that the hindering of their con-
version is the hindering of their forgiveness; and
that blindness of mind is the great hinderance of
conversion. And therefore, undoubtedly, the teacher
that brings light into your minds, and first showeth
you yourselves, and your unconverted, unpardoned
state, is he that takes the way to your conversion
and forgiveness : as the forecited text showeth you,
" I send thee to open their eyes, and to turn them
from darkness to light, (that they may first know
themselves, and then know God in Jesus Christ,)
and from the power of Satan (who ruled them as their
prince, and captivated them as their gaoler) unto
God, (whom they had forsaken as a guide and go-
vernor, and were deprived of as their protector, por-
tion, and felicity,) that they may receive forgiveness
of sins, (which none receive but the converted,) and
an inheritance among them that are sanctified;" for
glory is the inheritance of the saints alone; and all
this " through faith that is in me," (by believing in
me, and giving up themselves unto me, that by my
satisfaction, merits, teaching. Spirit, intercession,
and judgment, it may be accomplished).

Truly, sirs, if we knew how to procure your con-
version and forgiveness, without making you know
that you are unconverted and unpardoned, we would
do it, and not trouble you needlessly with so sad a
discovery. Let that man be accounted unworthy to
be a preacher of the gospel, that envieth you your
K 45

218

peace and comfort. Wc would Tiot have you think
one jot worse of your condition than it is. Know
but the very truth, what case you are in, and we
desire no more.

And so far are we, by this, from driving you to
desperation, that it is your desperation that we would
prevent by it; which can no other way be prevented.
When you are past remedy, desperation cannot be
avoided; and this _ is necessary to your remedy.
There is a conditional despair, and an absolute de-
spair. The former is necessary to prevent the latter,
and to bring you to a state of hope. A man that
hath a gangrened foot may despair of life, unless it be
cut off ; that so, by the cure, he may not be left to an
absolute despair of life. So you must despair of
being pardoned or saved without conversion, that
you may be converted, and so have hope of your sal-
vation, and be saved from final, absolute despair. I
hope you will not be olFended with him, that would
persuade you to despair of living, unless you will eat
and drink. You have no more reason to be offended
with him that would have you despair of being par-
doned or saved without Christ, or without his sanc-
tifying Spirit.

Having said so much of the necessity of ministers
endeavouring to make unregenerate sinners know
tliemselves, I shall next try what I can do towards
it, with those that hear, by proposing these few
(]uestions to your consideration : —

Qiicst. I. Do you think that you were ever un-
sanctified, and in a state of wrath and condemnation,
or not? » If not, then you are not the offspring of

219

Adam; you are not then of the human race: for the
Scripture telleth you, that " we are conceived in
sin ;" and that " by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned;" and that "by the
offence of one, judgment came upon all men to con-
demnation ;" and that *' all have sinned, and come
short of the glory of God." " If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us;" and " the wages of sin is death."

And I hope you will confess, that you cannot be
pardoned and saved without a Saviour; and there-
fore, as you need a Saviour, so you must have a
special interest in him. It is as certain that Christ
saveth not all, as that he saveth any; for the same
word assureth us of the one and of the other.

(lues/, 2. But if you confess that once you were
children of wrath, my next question is. Whether
you know how, and when, you were delivered from
so sad a state ^- or at least, whether it be done, or
» not ? Perhaps you will say, it was done in your
baptism, which washeth away original sin. But,
granting you that all that have a promise of pardon
before, have that promise sealed, and that pardon
delivered them by baptism, I ask.

Quest. 3. Do you think that baptism by water
alone will save, unless you be also baptized by the
Spirit? Christ telleth you the contrary, with a
vehement asseveration : " Verily, verily, 1 say unto
thee, Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
And Peter tells you, that it is " not the putting
away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good
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220

conscience towards God." " If therefore you have
not the Spirit of Ciirist," for all your baptism, " you
are none of his;" for " that which is born of the
flesh is (but) flesh," and you must be born of the
Spirit if you vvill be spiritual.

I shall further grant you, that many receive the
Spirit of Christ even in their infancy, and may be
savingly, as well as sacramentally, then regenerate.
And if this be your case, you have a very great
cause to be thankful for it. But I next inquire of
you,

Qiiest, 4. Have you not lived an unholy, carnal
life, since you came to the use of reason ? Have
you not since then declared, that you did not live
the life of faith, nor walk after the Spirit, but after
the flesh ? If so, then it is certain that you have
need of a conversion from that ungodly state, what-
ever baptism did for you ; and therefore you are still
to inquire, whether you have been converted since
you came to age.

And I must needs remind you, that your infant
covenant made in baptism, being upon your parents'
faith and consent, and not your own, will serve your
turn no longer than your infancy, unless when you
come. to the use of reason, you renew and own that
covenant yourselves, and have a personal faith and
repentance of your own. And whatever you received
in baptism, this must be our next inquiry.

Quest. 5. Did you ever, since you came to age,
upon sound repentance, and renunciation of the flesh,
the world, and the devil, give up yourselves unfeign-
edly, by faith, to God the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost; and show, by the performance of this holy

221

covenant, that you were sincere in the making of it?
I confess it is a matter so hard to most, to assign the
time and manner of their conversion, that I think it
no safe way of trial. And therefore I will issue all
in this one question :

Quest. 6. Have you the necessary parts of the
new creature now ; though perhaps you know not
just when, or how it was formed in you? The ques-
tion is, whether you are now in a state of sanctifica-
tion ? And not, whether you can tell just when you
did receive it? It beginnelh so early with some,
and so obscurely with others, and in others the pre-
parations are so long or notable, that it is hard to say
wlien special grace came in. But you may well dis-
cern whether it be there or not. And that is the
question that must be resolved, if you would know
yourselves.

And, though I have been long in these exhorta-
tions, to incline your wills, I shall be short in giving
you those evidences of the holy life, which must be
before your eyes while you are upon the trial. In
sum, if your very hearts do now unfeignedly consent
to the covenant which vou made in baptism, and your
lives express it to be a true consent, I dare say you
are regenerate, though you know not just when you
first consented. Come on, then, and let us inquire
what you say to the several parts of your baptismal
covenant.

1. If you are sincere in the covenant you have
made with Christ, you do resolvedly consent, that
God shall be your only God, as reconciled to you by
Jesus Christ. Which is, 1. That you will take
him for your Owner, or your absolute Lord, and give

222

up yourselves to him as his own. 2. That you will
take him for your supreme Governor, and consent to
be subject to his government and laws, taking his
wisdom for your guide, and his will for the rule
of your wills and lives. 3. That you will take
him for your chiefest Benefactor, from whom you re-
ceive and expect all your happiness, and to whom
you owe yourselves and all, by way of thankfulness ;
and that you take his love and favour for your hap-
piness itself, and prefer the everlasting enjoyment of
his glorious sight and love in heaven, before all the
sensual pleasures of the world. I would prove the
necessity of all these by Scripture as we go, but that
it is evident in itself; these three relations being es-
sential to God, as our God in covenant. He is not
our God, if not our Owner, Ruler, and Benefactor.
You profess all this, when you profess but to love
God, or to take him for your God.

2. In the covenant of baptism you do profess to
believe in Christ, and take him for your only Savi-
our. If you do this in sfncerity, 1. You do unfeign-
edly believe the doctrines of his Gospel, the articles
of the Christian faith, concerning his person, his of-
fices, and his sufferings and works. 2. You do take
him unfeignedly for the only Redeemer and Saviour
of mankind, and give up yourselves to be saved by
his merits, righteousness, intercession, &c. as he hath
promised in his word. 3. You trust upon him and
his promises, for the attainment of your reconciliation
and peace with God, your justification, adoption,
sanctification, and the glory of the life to come.
4. You take him for your Lord and King, your
Owner and Ruler, by the right of redemption; and

223

your grand Benefactor, that hath obliged you to love
and gratitude, by saving you from the wrath to come,
and purchasing eternal glory for you by his most
wonderful condescension, life, and sufferings.

3. In the baptismal covenant, you are engaged to
the Holy Ghost. If you are sincere in this branch
of your covenant, I. Vou discern your sins as odious
and dangerous, as the corruption of your souls, and
that which displeaseth the most holy God. 2. You
see an excellency in holiness of heart and hfe, as the
image of God, the rectitude of man, and that which
fits him for eternal blessedness, and maketh him ami-
able in the eyes of God. 3. You unfeignedly desire
to be rid of your sin, how dear soever it hath been to
you, and to be perfectly sanctified by the Holy Spi-
rit, in the use of the means which lie hath appointed;
and you consent that the Holy Ghost, as your Sanc-
tifier, do purify you, and kindle the love of God in
you, and bring it to perfection.

4. In baptism, you profess to renounce the world,
the flesh, and the devil ; that is, as they stand for
your hearts against the will and love of God, and
against the happiness of the unseen world, and
against your faith in Christ your Saviour, and
against the sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost. If
therefore you are sincere in this part of your cove-
nant, you do, upon deliberation, perceive all the
pleasures, profits, and honours of this world, to be
so vain and worthless, that you are habitually re-
solved to prefer the love and favour of God, and
your salvation, before tliem ; and to be ruled by Je-
sus Christ, and his Spirit and word, rather than by
the desires of the flesh, or the world's allurements,

224.

or the will of man, or the suggestions of the devil;
and to forsake all rather than forsake the Father, the
Saviour, the Sanctifier, to whom yon are devoted,
and the everlasting life, which, upon his promise,
you have taken for your hope and portion. This is
the sense of baptism, and all this in profession being
essential to your baptism, must be essential to your
Christianity. Your parents' profession of it was
necessary to your infant title to the outward privi-
leges of the church. Your own personal profession
is necessary to your continuance of those privileges,
and your visible Christianity and communion with
the adult. And the truth of what you profess, is
necessary to your real Christianity before God, and
to your title to salvation ; and this is what is to be
now inquired after. You cannot hope to be admitted
into heaven upon lower terms than the sincerity of
that profession which entereth you into the church ;
while we tell you of no higher matters necessary to
your salvation, than the sincerity of that which is
necessary to baptism and Christianity. I hope you
will not say we d(?al too strictly with you. Inquire
now, by a diligent trial of your hearts, whether you
truly consent to all these articles of your baptismal
vow or covenant. If you do, you are regenerate by
the Spirit: if you do not, you have but tlie sacra-
ment of regeneration ; which aggravateth your guilt,
as a violated profession and covenant must needs do.
And I do not think, that any man worthy to be dis-
coursed with, will have the face to tell you, that any
man, at the use of reason, is, by his baptism, or any
thing else, in a state of justification and salvation,
whose heart doth not sincerely consent to the cove-

225

nant of baptism, and whose life expressetli not that
consent.

Hence, therefore, you may perceive that it is a
thing unquestionable, that all these persons are yet
unregenerate, and in the bond of their iniquity.

1. All those that have not unfeignedly devoted
themselves to God, as being not their own, but his.
His by the title of creation : " Know ye that the
Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not
we ourselves: we arc his people, and the sheep of his
pasture." And his by the title of redemption : for
" we are bought with a price." And he that un-
feignedly taketh God for his Owner, and absolute
Lord, will heartily give up himself unto him; as Paul
saith of the Corinthians, " They first gave up their
own selves to the Lord, and to us by the will of
God."

And he that entirely giveth up himself to God,
doth, with himself, surrender all that he hath in de-
sire and resolution. As Christ, with himself, doth
" give us all things," and " addeth other things to
them that seek first his kinrfdom and its riijhteous-
ness," so Christians, with themselves, do give up all
they have to Christ.

And he that giveth up himself to God, will live
to God : and he that taketh not himself to be his
own, will take nothing for his own ; but will study
the interest of his Lord, and think he is best dis-
posed of, when he honourcth him most, and servetli
him best. " Ye are not your own, for ye are bought
with a price; therefore glorify God in your body,
and in your spirit, which are God's."

If any of you devote not yourselves unfeignedly
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226

to God, and make it not your first inquiry, what
God would have you be and do, but live to your-
selves, and yet think yourselves in a state of grace,
you are mistaken, and do not know yourselves.
How many might easily see their miserable condi-
tion in this discovery, who say in effect, " Our lips
are our own : who is Lord over us !" and rather
hate and oppose the interest of God and holiness in
the world, than devote themselves to the promoting
of it ! " Do ye thus requite the Lord, ye foolish
people and unwise ? Is not he thy Father that hath
bought thee ? Hath he not made thee, and estab-
lished thee ?"

2. All those are unregenerate, and in a state of
death, that are not sincerely subjected to the govern-
ing will of God, but are ruled by tlieir carnal in-
terest and desires; and the word of a man that can
gratify or hurt them, can do more with them than
the word of God. To show them the command of a
man that they think can undo them if they disobey,
doth more prevail with them, than to show them the
command of God, that can condemn them to end-
less misery. They more fear men, that can kill the
body, than God, that can destroy both soul and
body in hell-fire. When the lust of the flesh, and
the will of man, do bear more sway than the will of
God, it is certain that such a soul is unregenerate.
" Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized
into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death ?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death ; that like as Christ was raised from the dead,
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of hfe — Knowing this, that our

227

old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed ; that henceforth we should not
serve sin. — Know ye not, that to whom you yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to
whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obe-
dience unto righteousness ?" " Forasmuch, then, as
Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm your-
selves hkewise with the same mind; for he that hath
sulFered in the flesh hath ceased from sin : that he
no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh
to the lusts of men, but to the will of God."

3. All those are unregenerate, that depend not
upon God as their chief benefactor ; and do not most
carefully apply themselves to him, as knowing that
" in his favour is life," and that " his loving-kind-
ness is better than life," and that to his judgment
we must finally stand or fall: but do ambitiously
seek the favour of men, and call them their benefac-
tors, whatever become of the favour of God. He is
no child of God, that preferreth not the love of God
before the love of all the world. He is no heir of
heaven, that preferreth not the fruition of God in
heaven, before all worldly glory and felicity. " If
ye be risen with Christ, seek the tilings that are
above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. Set your affections on things above, not on
things on the earth." The love of God is the
sum of holiness; the heart of the new creature;
the perfecting of it is the perfection and felicity of
man.

4. They are certainly unregenerate, that believe
not the Gospel, and take not Christ for their only
Saviour, and his promises of grace and glory, as

228

purchased by liis sacrifice and merits, for the foun-
dation of their hopes, on which they resolve to trust
their souls for pardon and peace with God, and end-
less happiness. " Neilher is there salvation in any
other: for there is none other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved."
"This is the record, that God has given us eternal
life; and this life is in his Son. He that hath the
Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Sou, hath
not life."

\V hen our happiness was in Adam's hands, he
lost it : it is now put into safer hands, and Jesus
Ch rist, the second Adam, is become our treasury.
He is the head of the body, from whom each mem-
ber hath quickening influence. The life of saints
is in him, as the life of the tree is in the root, un-
seen. Holiness is a living unto God in Christ;
though we are dead with Christ, to the law, and to
the world, and to the flesh, we are alive to God.
So Paul describeth our casein his own, " I through
the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto
God. I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I
live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the
life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself
for me." " Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord." " Christ is the vine, and
we are the branches ; without him we can do
nothing. If you abide not in him, and his words in
you, you are cast forth as a branch, and withered,
which men gather and cast into the fire, and they
are burned." In baptism you are married unto

229

Christ, as to the external solemnization ; and in spi-
ritual regeneration, your hearts do inwardly close
with him, entertain him, and resign themselves unto
him by faith and love; and by a resolved covenant
become his own.

3. That person is certainly unregcnerate, that
never was convinced of a necessity of sanctification,
or never perceived an excellency and amiableness in
holiness of heart and life, and loved it in others, and
desired it himself ; and never gave up himself to
the Holy Ghost, to be further sanctified in the use
of his appointed means ; desiring to be perfect, and
willing to press forward towards the mark, and to
abound in grace. Much less is that person renewed
by the Holy Ghost, that hateth holiness, and had
rather be without it, and would not walk in the fear
and obedience of the Lord.

The spirit of holiness is that life by which Christ
quickeneth all that are his members. He is no
member of Christ that is without it. "According
to his mercy, he saved us, by the washing of regen-
eration, and renewhig of the Holy Ghost."

6. That person is unregenerate, that is under the
dominion of his fleshly desires, "and mindeth the
things of the flesh above the things of the Spirit,"
and hath not mortified it so far, as not to live ac-
cording to it. A carnal mind, and a carnal life, are
opposite to holiness, as sickness is to health, and
darkness to light. " There is no condemnation to
them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit. — For they that are
after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh ; but
they that are after the Spirit the things of the

230

Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death ; but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the
carnal mind is enmity against God ; for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
— For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die ; but
if by the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye
shall live." " Now the works of the flesh are ma-
nifest, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envy-
ings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like;
of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in
time past, that they which do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance : against such
there is no law. And they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts."

7. Lastly, That person is certainly unregenerate,
that so far valueth and loveth the world, or any of
the carnal accommodations thereifi, as practically to
prefer them before the love of God, and the hopes
of everlasting glory : seeking it first with highest
estimation, and holding it fastest; so as that he will
rather venture his soul upon the threatened wrath of
God, than his body upon the wrath of man ; and
will be religious, no further than m".y consist with
his prosperity or safety in the world, and hath some-
thing that he cannot part with for Christ and
heaven, because it is dearer to him than they. Let
this man go ever so far in religion, as long as he
goeth further for the world, and setteth it nearest to

231

his heart, and will do most for it, and, consequently,
loveth it better than Christ, he is no true Christian,
nor in a state of grace.

The Scriptures put this also out of doubt, as you
may see, Matt. x. 37, 38. Luke xiv. 25, 27, 33.
" He that loveth father or mother more than me, is
not worthy of me, &c. Whosoever doth not bear
his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Whosoever ho be of you that forsaketh not all that he
hath, he cannot be my disciple." — " Know ye not that
the friendship of the world is enmity with God ? who-
soever, therefore, will be a friend of the world, is the
enemy of God." No wonder, then, if the world must
be renounced in our baptism. " Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man
love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

You see, by this time, what it is to be regene-
rate, and to he a Christian indeed, by what is con-
tained even in our baptism : and, consequently, how
you may know yourselves, whether you are sancti-
fied, and the heirs of heaven, or not.

Again, therefore, I summon you to appear before
your consciences. And if indeed these evidences of
regeneration are not in you, stop not the sentence,
but confess your sinful, miserable state, and condemn
yourselves ; and say no longer, I hope yet that my
present condition may serve the turn, and that God will
forgive me, though I should die without any further
change. Those liopes, that you may be saved with-
out regeneration, or that you are regenerate when
you are not, are the pillars of Satan's fortress in your
hearts, and keep you from the saving hopes of the
regenerate, that will never make you ashamed.

232

Uphold not that vvhich Christ is eiifraged against :
down it must, cither by grace or judgment : and,
therefore, abuse not your souls, by under-propping
such an ill-grounded, false, deceitful hope. You
have now time to take it down so orderly and safely,
as tiiat it fall not on your Iieads, and overwhelm you
not for ever. But if you stay till death shall under-
mine it, the fall will be great, and your ruin irre-
parable. If you are wise, therefore, know yourselves
in time.

CHAPTER Vir.

Exhortatio7is to the Godly, to Jcnovo their sins and
•wants.

II. I HAVE done with that part of my special ex-
hortation which concerned the unregenerate : I am
next to speak to tliose of you, that by grace are
brought into a better state ; and to tell you, that it
very much concerneth you also, even the best of you,
to labour to be well acquainted with yourselves : and
that, both in respect of, I. Your sins and wants ;
and, II. Your graces and your duties.

I. Be acquainted with the root and remnant of
your sius : with your particular inclinations and cor-
rupt affections ; their quality, their degree, and
strength : with the weaknesses of every grace; with
your disability to duty ; and with the omissions or
sinful practices of your lives. Search diligently and
deeply; frequently and accurately peruse your hearts
and ways, till you certainly and thoroughly know
yourselves.

233

And I beseech you, let it not suffice you that
you know your states, and have found yourselves in
the love of God, in the faith of Christ, and possessed
by his Spirit. Though this be a mercy worth many
worlds, yet this is not all concerning yourselves that
you have to know. If yet you say that you have no
sin, you deceive yourselves. If yet you think you
are past all danger, your danger is tlie greater for
this mistake. As much as you have been humbled
for sin ; as much as you have loathed it ; as often as
you have confessed it, lamented it, complained and
prayed against it, yet it is alive : though it be mor-
tified, it is alive. It is said to be mortified as to
the prevalency and reign, but the relics of it yet sur-
vive : were it perfectly dead, you were perfectly de-
livered from it, and might say, you have no sin : but
it is not yet so happy with you. It will find work
for the blood and Spirit of Christ, and for your-
selves, as long as you are in the flesh. And, alas !
too many that know themselves to be upright in the
main, are yet so much unacquainted with their hearts
and lives, as to the degrees of grace and sin, as that
it much disadvantageth them in their Christian pro-
gress. Go along with me in the careful observation
of these following evils, that may befal even the re-
generate by the remnants of sclf-ignorancc.

1. The work of mortification is very much hin-
dered, because you know yourselves no better, as
may appear in all these following discoveries.

(1.) You confess not sin to God or man so peni-
tently and sensibly as you ought, because you know
yourselves no better. Did you see your heart, with
a fuller view, how heavily would you charge your-

234

selves ! repentance would be more intense and more
effectual ; and when you were more contrite, you
would be more meet for the sense of pardon, and for
God's delight. It would fill you more with godly
shame and self-abhorrence, if you better knew your-
selves. It would make you more sensibly say, with
Paul, " I see another law in my members warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me
from the body of this death ?" And with David,
" I will declare my iniquity; I will be sorry for my
sin. They are more than the hairs of my head. I
acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity
have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgres-
sions to the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of
my sin." i Repentance is the death of sin ; and the
knowledge of ourselves, and the sight of our sins, is
the life of repentance. /

(2.) You pray not against sin, for grace and par-
don, so earnestly as you should, because you know
yourselves no better. O that God would but open
these too close hearts, and show us all the recesses
of our self-deceit, and the filth of worldliness, and
carnal inclinations that lurk within us, and read us
a lecture upon every part; what prayers would it
teach us to indite! That you may not be proud of
your holiness, let me tell you. Christians, that a full
display of the corruptions of the best of you, would
not only take down self-exalting thoughts, that you
be not lifted up above measure, but would teach you
to pray with fervour and importunity, and make you
cry, " O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver

235

me!" If the sight of a cripple, or naked person,
move you to compassion, though they use no words,
surely the sight of your own deformities, wants, and
dangers, would affect you if you saw them as they
are. How many a sin do you forget in your con-
fessions, that should have a particular repentance !
And how many wants do you overlook in prayers,
that should have particular petitions for a merciful
supply ! And how many are run over with words
of course, that would he earnestly insisted on,- if
you did but better know yourselves ! O that God
would persuade you better to study your hearts,
and pray out of that book whenever you draw nigh
to him, that you might not be so like the hypocrites,
that draw near to him with the lips, when their
hearts are far from him. To my shame I must
confess, that my soul is too dry and barren in holy
supplications to God, and too little affected with my
confessed sins and wants ; but I am forced to lay all,
in a very great measure, upon the imperfect ac-
quaintance that I have at home. I cannot think I
should want matter to pour out before the Lord in
confession and petition, nor so much want fervour
and earnestness with God, if my heart and life lay
open to my view, while I am upon my knees.

(3.) It is for want of a fuller knowledge of your-
selves, that you are so negligent in your Christian
watch — that you do not better guard your senses —
that you make no stricter a covenant with your eyes,
your appetites, your tongues — that you no more ex-
amine what you think, affect, and say — that you call
not yourselves more frequently to account : but days
run on, and duties are carelessly performed, as of

236

course, and no daily reckoning made to conscience
of all. The knowledge of your weaknesses, and
readiness to yield, and of your treacherous corrup-
tions that comply with the enemy, would make you
more suspicious of yourselves, and to walk more
" circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise," and to
consider your ways, before you were too bold and
venturous. It was the consciousness of their own
infirmity, that should have moved the disciples to
w.itch and pray. " Watch and pray, that ye enter
not into temptation : the spirit indeed is wiHing, but
the flesh is weak." And all have the same charge,
because all have the same infirmity and danger.
" What I say to you, I say unto all, Watch."
Did we better know how many advantages our own
corruptions give the tempter, that charge of the
Holy Ghost would awake us all to stand to our
arms, and look about us : " Watch ye, stand fast
in the faith ; quit you like men, be strong." " Put
on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able
to stand against the wiles of the devil; for we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against prin-
cipalities and powers, against the rulers of the dark-
ness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high places."

The knowledge of ourselves doth show us all the
advantages of the tempter; what he hath to work
upon, and what in us to take his part, and conse-
quently where he is most likely to assault us: and
so puts us into so prepared a posture for defence, as
very much hinderelh his success. But so far as we
do not know ourselves, we are like blind men in
fencing, the adversary may hit in what part he

237

please. What sin may not Satan tempt a man
into, that is not acquainted with the corruptions and
frailties of his own heart!

(■i.) It is for want of self-acquaintance that we
seek not for help against our sin, to ministers or
other friends that could assist us: and that we use
the confirming ordinances with no more care and
dih'gence. All the abilities and willingness of others,
and all the helps of God's appointment, will be ne-
glected, when we should employ them against our
sins, so far as sclf-ignorance doth keep us from dis-
cerning the necessity of them.

(3.) It is for want of a fuller knowledge of our-
selves, that many lie long in sins unobserved by
themselves; and many are on the declining hand,
and take no notice of it. And how little resistance
or mortifying endeavours we are likely to bestow
upon unknown or unobserved sins, is easy to con-
ceive. How many may we observe to have notable
blemishes of pride, ostentation, desire of pre-emi-
nence and esteem, envy, malice, self-conceitedness,
self-seeking, censoriousness, uncharitableness, and
such like, that see no more of it in themselves, than
is in more mortified men ! How ordinarily do we
hear the pastors that watch over them, and their
friends that are best acquainted with them, lament-
ing the miscarriages, and the careless walking and
declining of many that seem religious, when they
lament it not themselves, nor will be convinced that
they are sick of any such disease, any more than all
other Christians are ! Hence it is, that we have all
need to lament, in general, our unknown sins, and
say, with David, " Who can understand his errors ?
Cleanse thou me from secret faults."

238

There are few of us that observe our hearts at
all, but find, both upon any special illumhiation, and
in the hour of discovering trials, that there were
many distempers in our hearts, and many miscar-
riages in our lives, that we never took notice of be-
fore. The heart hath such secret corners of un-
cleannessj such mysteries of iniquity, and depths of
deceitfulness, that many fearing God, are strangely
unacquainted with themselves, as to the particular
motions and degrees of sin, till some notable provi-
dence, or gracious light, assist them in the discovery.
I think it not unprofitable here to give you some
instances of sin, undiscerned by the servants of the
Lord themselves that have it, till the light come in
that makes them wonder at their former darkness.

In general, first observe these two. 1. The
secret habits of sin, being discernible only by some
acts, are many times unknown to us, because we
are under no strong temptation to commit those sins.
And it is a wonderfully hard thing for a man that
hath little or no temptation to know himself, and
know what he should do, if he had the temptations
of other men. And O, what sad discoveries are
made in the hour of temptation ! What swarms
of vice break out in some, like vermin, that lay hid
in the cold of winter, and crawl about when they
feel the summer's heat ! What horrid corruptions,
which we never observed in ourselves before, do
show themselves in the hour of temptation ! Who
would have thought that righteous Noah had, in
the ark, such a heart as would, by carelessness, fall
into the sin of drunkenness! Or that righteous
Lot had carried from Sodom the seed of drunken-

S39

ness and incest in him ! Or that David, a man so
eminent in holiness, and a man after God's own
heart, had a heart that had in it the seeds of adul-
tery and murder ! Little thought Peter, when he
professed Christ, that there had been in him such
carnality and unbelief, as would so soon have pro-
voked Christ to say, " Get thee behind me, Satan,
thou art an offence unto me; for thou savourest not
the things that be of God, but those that be of
men." And little did he think, when he so vehe-
mently professed his resolution rather to die with
Christ than deny him, that there had been then
in his heart, the seed that would bring forth this
bitter fruit, i Who knows what is virtually in a
seed, that never saw the tree, or tasted of the fruit ?

Especially, when we have not only a freedom
from temptations, but also the most powerful means
to keep under vicious habits, it is hard to know how
far they are mortified at the root. When men are
among those that countenance the contrary virtue,
and where the vice is in disgrace, and where ex-
amples of piety and temperance are still before their
eyes; if they dwell in such places and company,
where authority, and friendship, and reason, do all
take part with good, and cry down the evil, no
wonder if the evil that is unmortified in men's
hearts, do not much break out to their own or
others^ observations, through all this opposition.
The instance of King Joash is famous for this, who
" did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,
all the days of Jehoiada the priest that instructed
him," but " after his death, when the princes of
Judah flattered him with their obeisance, he left the

240

house of God and served idols, till wrath came upon
the land:" and was so hardened in sin, as to murder
Zechariah, the prophet of God, and son of that
Jehoiada that had brought him out of obscurity, and
set him upon the throne, even because he spake, in
the name of the Lord, against his sin. Who would
have thought that it had been in the heart of Solo-
mon, a man so wise, so holy, and so solemnly en-
gaged to God, by his public professions and works,
to have committed the abominations mentioned,
1 Kings xi. 4.?

If you say, ' That all this proveth not that there
was any seed or root of such a sin in the heart be-
fore, but only that the temptation did prevail to
cause the acts first, and then such habits as those
acts did tend to.' I answer, 1. I grant that temp-
tations do not only discover what is in the heart,
but also make it worse when they prevail ; and that
is no full proof that a man had a proper habit of sin
before, because, by temptation, he commits the act :
for Adam sinned by temptation, without an antece-
dent habit. 2. But we know the nature of man to
be now corrupted, and that this corruption is virtu-
ally or seminally all sin, disposing us to all; and
that this disposition is strong enough to be called a
general habit. When grace in the sanctified is
called a nature, there is the same reason to call the
sinful inclination a nature too; which can signify
nothinjr else than a strong and rooted inclination.
Knowing, therefore, that the heart is so corrupted,
we may well say, when the evil fruit appears, that
there was the seed of it before. And the easy and
frequent yielding to the temptation, shows there was

241

a friend to sin within. 3. But if it were not so,
yet that our hearts should be so frail, mutable, and
easily drawn to sin, is a part of self-knowledge ne-
cessary to our preservation, and not to be disre-
garded. 4. I am sure Christ himself tells us, that
" out of the heart proceed the sins of the life," and
that the " evil things of evil men come out of the
evil treasure of their hearts." And when God per-
mitted the fall of good King Hczekiah, the text
saith, " God left him to try him, that he might
know all that was in his heart ;" that is, that he
might show all that was in his heart, so that the
weakness, and the remaining corruption of Hcze-
kiah's heart, were shown in the sin which he com-
mitted.

2. And as the sinful inclinations are hardly dis-
cerned, and long lie hid till some temptation draw
them out; so the act itself is hardly discerned in
any of its malignity, till it be done and past, and
the soul is brought to a deliberate review. For
while a man is in the act of sin, either his under-
standing is so far deluded, as to think it no sin in
its kind, or none to him that then committeth it;
or that it is better to venture on it than not, for the
attaining of some seeming good, or the avoiding of
some evil : or else the restraining act of the under-
standing is suspended and withdrawn ; and it dis-
cerneth not practically the pernicious evil of the sin,
and forbiddeth not the committing of it, or forbids
it so remissly and with so low a voice, as is drowned
by the clamour of contradicting passion : so that the
prohibition is not heard. And how can it be then
expected, that when a man hath not wit enough in
L 45

242

use, to see his sin so far as to forbear it, he should
even then see it so far as rightly to judge of him-
self and it ? And that when reason is low, and
sensuality prevaileth, we should then have the right
use of reason for self-discerninj; ? When a storm
of passion hath blown out the light, and error hath
extinguished it, we are unlikely then to know our-
selves. ; When the sensual part is pleasing itself
with its forbidden objects, pleasure so corrupts the
judgment, that men will easily believe that it is
lawful, or that it is not very bad : so that sin is
usually least known and felt, when it is greatest in
exercise, and one would think should then be most
perceptible. Like a frenzy or madness, or other
delirium, that is least known when it is greatest and
most in act, because its nature is destructive to the
reason that should know it.

And thus you see that, through self-ignorance, it
comes to pass, that both secret habits, and the most
open acts of sin, are ofttimes little known. A man
that is drunk, is in an unfit state to know what
drunkcnsiess is ; and so is a man that is in his pas-
sion : you will hardly bring him to repentance till
it be allayed. And so is a man in the brutifying
heat of lust : and therefore abundance of unknown
sin may remain in a soul, that labourcth not to be
well acquainted with itself.

And as I have showed you this in general, both
of habits and acts of sin, let us consider of some in-
stances in particular, which will yet more discover
the necessity of studying ourselves.

1. Little do we think what odious and dangerous
errors may befal a person that now is orthodox !

243

What a slippery mutability the mind of man is
liable to ! How variety of representations causeth
variety of apprehensions : like some pictures that
seem one thing when you look on them on one side,
and another thing when on another side ; if you
change your place, or change your light, they seem
to change. Indeed God's word hath nothing in it
thus fitted to deceive: but our weakness hath that
which disposeth us to mistakes. The person that
now is a zealous lover of the truth, (when it hath
procured entertainment by the happy advantage of
friends, acquaintance, ministers, magistrates, or
common consent being on its side) may possibly
turn a zealous adversary to it, when it loseth those
advantages. When a minister shall change his
mind, how many of tlie flock may he mislead !
When you marry, or contract-any intimate friend-
ship with a person of unsound and dangerous prin-
ciples, how easily are they received ! - When the
stream of tlie times and authority shall change, and
put the name of truth on falsehood, how many may be
carried down the stream I How zealous have many
been for a faitiiful ministry, that have turned their
persecutors, or made it a great part of their religion
to revile them, when once they have turned to some
sect that is possessed by the malicious spirit !

And O that we could stop here, and could not
remember how faithfully and honestly some have
seemed to love and obey the word of God, and to
delight in the communion of saints, that by seducers
have been brought to deny the divine authority of
the Scriptures, and to turn their backs on all God's
public ordinances of worship, and excommunicate
L 2

244

themselves from the society of the saints, and vilify
or deny tlie works of the Spirit in them ! Little
did these men once think themselves, whither they
should fall, under the conceit of rising higher: and
little would they have believed him that had told
them what a change they would make. Had these
men known themselves in time, and known what
tinder was in their hearts, they would have walked
more warily, and, it is likely, have escaped the snare;
but they fell into it, because they feared it not :
and they feared it not, because they knew not or
observed not, how prone they were to be infected.

2. Little do many think, in their adversity or
low estate, what seeds are in their hearts, which
prosperity would turn into very odious, scandalous
sins, unless their vigilancy, and a special preserva-
tion, do prevent it. Many a man that in his shop,
or at his plough, is censuring the great miscarriages
of his superiors, doth little think how bad he might
prove, if he were in the place of those he ceusureth.
Many a poor man, that freely talks against the
luxury, pride, and cruelty of the rich, doth little
think how like them he should be, if he had their
temptations and estates. How many persons that
lived in good repute for humility, temperance, and
piety, have we seen turn proud, and sensual, and
ungodly, when they have been exalted ! I must
say that this age hath given us such lamentable in-
stances. Would the persons that once walked with
us in the ways of peace, and concord, and obedience,
have believed that man that should have foretold
them twenty years ago, how many should be puffed
up and deluded by successes, and make themselves

245

believe, by tlie ebullition of pride, that victories
authorized thera to deny subjection to the higher
powers, and, by right or wrong, to take down all
that stood in their way, and to take the government
into their own hands, and to depose their rightful go-
vernors, never once vouchsafing to ask themselves the
question that Christ asked, " Man, who made me a
judge or a divider over you ?" They would have
said as Hazael, " Am I a dog that I should do
this?" If one had told them before, that when
God hath charged every soul to be subject, on pain
of condemnation, and they had vowed fidelity, they
should break all these bonds of commands and vows;
and all because they were able to do it : when the
ministers of the Gospel, and their dearest friends,
bore witness against tlie sin, tlie heart could not, by
all this, be brought to perceive its guilt ; or that it
was any sin to overturn, overturn, overturn, till they
had overturned all, and left not themselves a bough
to stand upon. The unrighteous usage of magis-
tracy and ministry, and the licentious indulgence of
the open enemies and rcvilers of botii, and of all the
ordinances and churches of the Lord, do proclaim
sloud to all that fear God, ' The depths and deceits
of the heart are wonderful, and you little think
what an hour of temptation may discover in you, or
bring you to: O therefore know yourselves, and
fear, and watch.'

3. A man that in adversity is touched with peni-
tent and mortifying considerations, and strongly rc-
solveth how holily and diligently he will live here-
after, if he be recovered or delivered from his suf-
feriug, doth ofttiraes little think what a treacherous

246

heart he hath, and how little he may retain of all
this sense of sin or duty, when he is delivered, and
that he will be so much worse than he seemed or
promised, as that he may have cause to wish he had
been afflicted still. O how many sick-bed promises
are as pious as we can desire, that wither away, and
come to almost nothing, when health hath scattered
the fears that caused them ! How many, with that
great imprisoned Lord, do,' as it were, write the
story of Christ upon their prison walls, that forget
him when they are set at liberty ! How many are
tender-conscienced in a low estate, that when they
are exalted, and converse with great ones, do think
that they may waste their time in idleness and scan-
dalous recreations, and be silent witnesses of the
most odious sins from day to day ; and pray God
be merciful to them when they go to the house of
Rimmon; and dare scarcely own a servant, or hated
and reproached cause of God ! O what a pre-
servative would it be to us in prosperity, to know
the corruption of our hearts, and foresee in adversity
what we are in danger of! We should then be
less ambitious to place our dwellings on the highest
ground, and more fearful of the storms that there
must be expected. How few are there (to a won-
der) that grow better by worldly greatness and pros-
perity ! Yea, how few that hold their own, and
grow not worse ! And yet how few are there (to
a greater wonder) that refuse, or that desire not this
perilous station, rather than to stand safer on the
lower ground ! Verily, the lamentable fruits of
prosperity, and the mutability of men that make
great professions and promises in adversity, should

247

make the best of us jealous of our hearts, and con-
vince us that there is greater corruption in them,
than most are acquainted with, that are never put to
such a trial. The height of prosperity shows what
the man is indeed, as much as the depth of ad-
versity.

Would one have thought, that had read of Heze-
kiah's earnest prayer in his sickness, and the miracle
wrought to signify his deliverance, and of his written
song of praise, that yet Hezekiah's heart should so
deceive him, as to prove unthankful? You may see
by his expressions, his high resolutions to spend his
life in the praise of God : " The living, the living,
he shall praise thee, as I do this day : the fathers
to the children shall make known thy truth. The
Lord was ready to save me : therefore we will sing
our songs to the stringed instruments, all the days
of our life, in the house of the Lord !" Would you
think, that a holy man, thus wrapt up in God's
praise, should yet miscarry, and be charged with
ingratitude? And yet it is said of him, "But
Hezekiah rendered not ajjain accordinirto the benefit
done unto him ; for his heart was lifted up : there-
fore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah
and Jerusalem." And God was fain to bring him
to a review, and humble him for being thus lifted
up, as the next words show : " Notwithstanding,
Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his
heart." O sirs, what Christian that ever was in a
deep affliction, and hath been recovered by the tender
hand of mercy, hath not found how false a thing
the heart is, and how little to be trusted in its best
resolutions, and most confident promises ! Heze-

248

kiah still remained a holy, faithful man ; but yet
thus failed in particulars and degrees. Wliich of
us can say, who have had the most affecting and
engaging deliverances, that ever our hearts did fully
answer the purposes and promises of our afflicted
state ! and that we had as constant sensible thanks-
givings after, as our complaints and prayers were
before ! Not I ; with grief I must say. Not I,
though God hath tried me many a time. Alas !
we are too like the deceitful Israelites : " When he
slew them, then they sought him ; and they returned
and inquired after God : and they remembered that
God was their Rock, and the high God their Re-
deemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with
their mouth, and they lied unto him with their
tongues: for tlieir heart was not rif^ht with him,
neither were they steadfast in his covenant." Pros-
perity oft shows more of the hypocrisy of the un-
sound, and the infirmity of the upright, than ap-
peared in adversity. When we feel the strong
resolutions of our hearts to cast off our sin, to walk
more thankfully and fruitfully with God than we
have done, we can hardly believe that ever those
hearts should lose so much of those affections and
resolutions, as in a little time we find they do.
Alas ! how quickly and insensibly do we slide into
our former insensibility, and into our dull and fruit-
less course, when once the pain and fear is gone !
And then, when the next affliction comes, we are
confounded and covered with shame, and have not
the confidence with God in our prayers and cries as
we had before, because we are conscious of our cove-
nant-bi caking and backsliding; and at last we grow

249

so distrustful of our hearts, that we know not how
to beheve any promises which they make, or how to
be confident of any evidence of grace that is in
them ; and so vve lose the comfort of our sincerity,
and are cast into a state of too much heaviness, and
unthankful denial of our dearest mercies. And all
this comes from the foul, unexpected relapses, and
declinings of the heart, that comes not up to the
promises we made to God in our distress.

But if exaltation be added to deliverance, how
often doth it make the reason drunk, so that the
man seems not the same ! If you see them drowned
in ambition, or worldly cares or pleasures; if you
see how boldly they can play with the sin that once
they would have trembled at; how powerful fleshly
arguments are with them ; how strangely they now
look at plain-hearted, zealous, heavenly Christians,
whose case they once desired to be in : and how
much they are ashamed or afraid, to appear openly
for an opposed cause of Christ, or openly to justify
the persons that he justifieth, as if they had forgot
that a day is coming, when they will be loath that
Christ should be ashamed of them, and refuse to
justify them, when the grand accuser is pleading for
their condemnation ! I say, if you see these men
in their prosperity, would you not ask with wonder,
' Are these the men that lately, in distress, did seem
so humble, penitent, and sincere : that seemed so
much above these vanities : that could speak with so
much contempt of all the glory and pleasures of the
world : and with so much pity of those giddy men
that they now admire?'

O what pillars have been shaken by prosperity !
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250

What promises broken ! What sad eruptions of
pride and worldliness ! What openings and sad
discoveries of heart, doth this alluring, charming
trial make ! And why is it that men know not
themselves when they are exalted, but because they
did not sufficiently know themselves when they were
brought low, nor suspected enough the purposes and
promises of their hearts, in the day of their dis-
tress !

4. We would little think, when the heart is
warmed, and raised even to heaven, in holy ordinan-
ces, how cold it will grow again, and how low it will
fall down ! And when we have attained the clearest
sight of our sincerity, we little think how quickly
all such apprehensions may be lost ; and the mis-
judging soul, that reckons upon nothing but what it
sees, or feels at present, may be at as great a loss,
as if it had never perceived any fruits of the Spirit,
or lineaments of the image of God upon itself.
How confident, upon good grounds, is many an
honest heart of its sincerity ! How certain that it
desireth to be perfectly holy ! 1 . That it would
be rid of the nearest, dearest si;i. 2. That it loves
the saints. 3. That it loves the light of the most
searching ministry. 4. And loveth the most prac-
tical, sanctifying truths. 5. And loves the ministry
and means that have the greatest and most powerful
tendency to make themselves more holy (all of which
are certain evidences of sincerity). How clearly
may the heart perceive all these, and write them
down ; and yet, ere long, have lost the sight and
sense of them all, and find itself in darkness and
confusion, and perhaps be persuaded that all is con-

251

trary with them ! And wlien they read in their
diary, or book of heart-accounts, that at such a day
in examination, they found such or such an evi-
dence; and such a one at another; and many at a
third ; yet now they may be questioning, whether
all this were not deceit, because it seems contrary to
their present sight and feeling ; for it is present light
that the mind discerneth by, and not by that which
is past and gone, and of which we cannot so easily
judge by looking back. They find in their accounts,
At such a time I had my soul enlarged in prayer;
and at such a time I was full of joy; and at another
time I had strong assurance, and boldness with God,
and confidence of his love in Christ, and doubted
not of the pardon of all my sins, or the justification
or acceptance of my person. But now, no joy, no
assurance, no boldness, or confidence, or sense of
love and pardon doth appear ; but the soul secmeth
dead, and carnal, and unrenewed : as the same trees
that in summer are beautified with pleasant fruits
and flowers, .in winter are deprived of their natural
ornaments, and seem as dead, when the life is re-
tired to the root. The soul that once would have
defied the accuser, if he had told him that he did
not love the brethren, nor love the sanctifying word
and means, nor desire to be holy, and to be free
from sin, is now as ready to believe the accusation,
and will sooner believe the tempter than the minister
that watcheth for them, as one that must give ac-
count. Yea, now it will turn the accuser of itself,
and say as Satan, and falsely charge itself with that
which Christ will acquit it of. The same work
that a well composed believer hath in confuting the

252

calumnies of Satan, the same hath a minister to do,
in confuting the false accusations of disturbed souls
against themselves. And how subtle, how obsti-
nate and tenacious are they ! As if they had learned
some of the accuser's art: such as the uncharitable
and malicious are against their neighbours, in pick-
ing quarrels with all that they say or do ; just such
are poor disquieted souls against themselves.

And there is not a soul so high in joy and sweet
assurance, but is liable to fall as low as this. And
it makes our case to be much more grievous tlian
otherwise it would be, because we know not ourselves
in the hour of our consolations, and think not how
apt we are to lose all our joy, and what seeds of
doubts, and fears, and grief, are still within us, and
what cause we have to expect a change. And
therefore, when so sad a change befalleth us, it sur-
priseth us with terror, and casteth the poor soul
almost into despair. Then crieth the distressed
sinner, ' Did I ever think to see this day ! are my
hopes and comforts come to this ! Did I think so
long that I was a child of God, and must I now
perceive that he disowneth me 1 Did I draw near
him as my Father, and place my hope in his relief;
and now must my mouth be stopped with unbelief,
and must I look at him afar oft", and pass by the
doors of mercy with despair ! Is all my sweet fami-
liarity with the godly, and all my comfortable hours
under the precious means of grace, now come to
this !' O how the poor soul here calls itself ' O
vile apostate, miserable sinner ! O that 1 had never
lived to see this gloomy day ! It had been belter
for me never to have knovvn the way of righteous-
ness, than thus to have relapsed; and have all the

253

prayers that 1 have put up, and all the sermons I
have heard, and the books that I have read, to
aggravate my sin and misery.' O how many a poor
Ciiristian in this dark misjudging case, is ready, with
Job, to curse the day that he was born, and to say
of it, " Let it be darkness, let not God regard it
from above, neither let the light shine upon it : let
it not be joined to the days of the year: let it not
come into the number of the months: — Wherefore
is light given to ]iim that is in misery, and life unto
the bitter in soul : which long for death, and it
Cometh not — which rejoice exceedingly, and are
glad when they can find the grave? Why is light
given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God
hath hedged in ?" Such are the lamentations of
distressed souls, that lately were as in the arms of
Christ. Their lives are a burden to them; their
food is bitter to them; their health is a sickness to
them; their dearest relations are become as strangers;
and all their comforts are turned into sorrows, and
the world seems to them as a howling wilderness,
and themselves as desolate, forsaken souls. They
are still as upon the cross, and will own no titles,
but vile, unworthy, lost, undone, forlorn and deso-
late; as if they had learned no words from Christ,
but " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me!"

And much of this comes from the ifrnorance of
ourselves in the time of peace and consolation. We
are as David, that saith, " In my prosperity I said,
I shall never be moved. Lord, by tliy favour thou
hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst
hide thy face, and I was troubled." One frown
of God, or withdrawing the liglit of his countenance

254

from us, would quickly turn our day into night, and
cover us with sackcloth, and lay us in the dust.

Take warning, therefore, dear Christians, you
that are yet in the sunshine of mercy, and were
never at so sad a loss, nor put to grope in the dark-
ness of mistake and terror. No man is so well in
health, but must reckon on it that he may be sick.
When you feel nothing but peace and quietness of
mind, expect a stormy night of fears, that may dis-
quiet you. When you are feasting upon the sweet
entertainments of your Father's love, consider that
feasting is not likely to be your ordinary diet, but
harder fare must be expected. Look on poor
Christians, in spiritual distress, with compassion,
and join in hearty prayer for them, and remember
that this may prove your case. If you say, To
what purpose should you know beforehand, how
subject you are to this falling sickness: I answer,
not to anticipate, or bring on your sorrows; but if it
may be, to prevent them; or if that may not be, at
least to prevent the extremity and terror, and to be
provided for such a storm. When you are now in
health of body, and not disabled by melancholy, nor
overwhelmed with the troubles of your mind, you
have leisure calmly to understand the case of such
misjudging and distressed souls; and accordingly you
may avoid the things that cause it: and you may be
furnished with right principles, and with promises,
and experiences, and recorded evidences of grace;
and when comfort is withdrawn, you may by such
provision understand, that God changeth not, nor
breaks his covenant, nor abates his love, when your
apprehensions change : and that this is no sign of a

255

forsaken soul: and that the ceasing of our feast, and
withdrawing of the table, is not a turning us out of
the family.

And what I have said of the loss of comfort may
be said also of the diminished and interrupted opera-
tions of all grace. We little think, in the vigour
of our holy progress, what falls, and languishings
we may find. When you have access with bold-
ness in prayer unto God, and lively affections and
words at will, and comfortable returns, remember
that you may come to a sadder case; and that many
a true Christian hath such withdrawings of the spirit
of prayer, as makes them think they are possessed
with a dumb devil, and question whether ever they
prayed acceptably at all, and cannot so much as ob-
serve the groanings of the Spirit in them.

When you are warm and vigorous in the work
of God, and find delight in all the ordinances,
remember that you are subject to such sicknesses as
may take away your appetite, and make you say, I
have no mind to hear, or read, or pray : metliinks I
feel no sweetness in them ! I was wont to go up
with comfort to the house of God ; I was glad when
the Lord's-day was come, or nigh : it did me good
to see the faces of the saints : O the meltings, the
strivings, the lively workings of soul that I have had
in their sweet communion ! when they have preached
and prayed as full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith :
but now I do but force myself to duty : I go to
prayer as against my will: I feel small relish in the
word of life. O how many Christians, that little
thought of such a day, cry out that spiritual death
is upon them ; that they are dead to prayer, and

256

dead to meditation, and dead to holy conference;
and tliat once they thought they were dead to the
world, and now they find they are dead to God.
Understand before that you are liable to this, and
you may do much to prevent it: and if you should
fall into a sickness and loss of appetite, you may be
able to distinguish it from death.

When you are sweetly refreshed at the table of
the Lord, and have there received a sealed pardon,
as from heaven into your bosoms, and have found
delightful entertainment with the Lord, remember
that the day may come, when dulness, and unbelief,
and fears, may so prevail, as to make that an ordi-
nance of greatest terror to you, and you may sit
there in trembling, lest you should eat and drink
your own damnation: and you may go home in fears,
lest Satan have there taken possession of you, or
lest it have sealed you up to wrath : or you may fly
from that feast which is your due, and Christ invites
you to, through fears, lest it belong not to you, and
should but harden you more in sin: for, alas! this
sad and sinful case is too often the case of true be-
lievers, that little feared it in their spiritual pros-
perity. So that the very high expectations of such
workings of soul, which they cannot often or ordi-
narily reach, and the frustrating of those expecta-
tions, doth so often turn the table of the Lord into
the bitterness of wormwood, into distracting fears
and troubles, that I cannot tell whether any other
part of worship occasion so much distress to many
that are upright at the heart as this doth, which is
appointed for their special consolation.

So, when you are clear and vigorous in the life of

257

faith, and can abhor all temptations to unbelief, and
tlie beams of sacred verity in the Scriptures have
showed you that it is the undoubted word of God,
and you have quietly established your soul on Christ,
and built your hopes upon his promises, and can
with a cheerful contempt let go the world for the
accomplishment of your hopes; remember yet that
there is a secret root of unbelief remaining in you,
and that this odious sin is but imperfectly mortified
in the best; and that it is more than possible that
you may see the day when the tempter will assault
you with questionings of the word of God, and
trouble you with the injections of blasphemous
thoughts and doubts, whether it be true or not!
And that you that have thought of God, of Christ,
of heaven, of the immortal state of souls, with joy
and satisfied confidence, may be in the dark about
them, affrighted with wicked suggestions of the
enemy, and may think of them all with troublesome,
distracted doubts, and be forced to cry, witli the dis-
ciples, " Lord increase our faith." And, " Lord, I
believe, help thou my unbelief." Vea, worse than
so; some upright souls have been so amazed and
distracted by the tempter, and their distempered
hearts, as to think they do not believe at all, nor
yet are able sincerely to say, " Lord help thou my
unbelief." When yet at that time their fears and
their abstaining from iniquity show, that they be-
lieve the threateniiigs, and therefore indeed believe
the word. Now, if we did but thoroughly know our-
selves, when faith is in its exercise and strength,
and consider whither the secret seeds of remaining
unbelief may bring us, being forewarned, we should

258

be fore-armed, and should mortify our faith the
better, and be provided against these sad assaults.
And if the malignant spirit be suffered to storm this
fortress of the soul, we should more manfully resist:
and we should not be overwhelmed with horror, as
soon as any hideous and blasphemous temptations
do assault us. When Christ himself was not ex-
empted from the most blasphemous temptation, even
the worshipping of the devil instead of God; though
in him there was no sinful disposition to entertain it.

0 watch and pray, Christians, in your most pros-
perous and comfortable state ! " Watch and pray,
lest ye enter into temptation:" for you little think
what is yet within you ; and what advantage the
deceiver hath; and how much of your own to take
his part; and how low he may bring you, both in
point of grace and peace, though he cannot damn
you.

1 am troubled that I must tell you of so sad a
case, that even the children of God may fall into,
lest by troubling you with the opening of your dan-
ger, I should do any thing to bring you into it.
But because self-ignorance, and not being before-
hand acquainted with it, may do much more, I have
timely showed you the danger with the remedy.

5. Another instance of the darkness even of a
heart that in part is sanctified, is in the successes of
the temptations of adversity. When we want no-
thing, we think we value not the world, and we
could bear the loss of all, but when poverty or danger
comes, what trouble and unseemly whining is there,
as if it were by a worldling that is deprived of his
idol, and all the portion that ever he must have !

259

And by the shameful moan and stir that we make
for what we want, we show more sinful overvaluing
of it, and love to it, than before we observed or
would believe. O how confidently and piously have
I heard some inveigh against the love of the world,
as if there had been no such thing in them; who yet
have been so basely dejected, when they have been
unexpectedly stripped of their estates, as if they had
been quite undone !

How patiently do we think we could bear afflic-
tion, till we feel it ! and how easily and piously can
we exhort others unto patience, when we have no
sense of what they suflPer ! But when our turn is
come, alas! we seem to be other men. Suffering is
now another thing; and patience harder than we
imagined. And how inclinable are we to hearken
to temptations, to use sinful means to come out of
our sufferings ! Who would have thought that
faithful Abraham should have been so unbelieving,
as to equivocate in such a danger, and expose the
chastity of his wife to hazard, as we read in Gen. xii.
and that he should fall into the same sin again, on
the same occasion, (Gen. xx.) to Abimelech, as be-
fore he had done with Pharaoh ! and that Isaac
should, after him, fall into the same sin, in the same
place! The life of faith doth set us so much above
the fear of man, and show us the weakness and no-
thingness of mortal worms, and the faithfulness and
all-sufficiency of God, that one would think the
frowns and threatenings of a man should signify no-
thing to us, when God stands by, and givcth us
such ample promises and security for our confirma-
tion and encouragement : and yet what base deject-

260

edness, and sinful compliances are many brought to,
through the fear of man, that before the hour of this
temptation, could talk as courageously as any ! This
was the case of Peter, and of many a one that hath
a wounded conscience, and wronged their profession
by too cowardly a disposition; which if it were fore-
known, we might do more for our confirmation, and
should betake ourselves in time to Christ, in the
use of means, for strength. Few turn their backs
on Christ, or a good cause, in the time of trial, that
are jealous of themselves beforehand, and afraid lest
they should forsake him. Few fall that are afraid of
falling : but the self-ignorant and self-confident are
careless of their way, and it is they that fall.

6. Another instance that I may give you, is, in
the unexpected appearances of pride in those that yet
are truly humble. Humility speaks in their confes-
sions, aggravating their sin, and searching heart and
life for matter of self-accusation : they call them-
selves " Less than the least of all God's mercies."
They are ready, with the woman of Canaan, even to
own the name of dogs, and to confess themselves
unworthy of the children's crumbs, and unworthy to
live upon the patience and provisions of God : they
will spend whole hours, and days of humiliation, in
confessing their sin, and bewailing their weaknesses
and want of grace, and lamenting their desert of
misery. They are often cast down so much too low,
that they dare not own the title of God's children,
nor any of his special grace, but take themselves for
mere unsanctified, hardened sinners; and all that
can be said, will not convince them that they have
any saving interest in Christ, nor hinder them from

261

pouring out unjust accusations against themselves.
And all this is done by them in the uprightness of
their hearts, and not dissembhngly. And yet,
would you think, that, with all this humility, there
should be any pride ? and that the same persons
should lift up themselves, and resist their helps to
further humiliation ? Do they think, in their de-
jections, that it is in their hearts so much to exalt
themselves ? I confess many of them are sensible
of their pride, even to the increase of their humility;
and, as it is said of Hezekiah, " do humble them-
selves for the pride of their hearts, so that God's
wrath doth not come upon them." But yet, too
few are so well acquainted with the power and root-
edness of this sin at the heart, and the workings of
it in the hour of temptation, as they should be. Ob-
serve it but at such times as these, and you will see
f^a^ break forth, that before appeared not. 1. When
we are undervalued and slighted, and meaner per-
sons preferred before us; and when our words and
judgments are made light of, and our parts thought
to be poor and low; when any blot or dishonour is
cast upon us, deserved or undeserved; when we are
slandered or reproached, and used with despite :
what a matter do we make of it, and how much,
then, doth our pride appear in our distaste, and of-
fence, and impatience ! So tliat the same person,
that can pour out words of blame against himself,
cannot bear half as much from othecs, without dis-
pleasure and disquietncss of mind. It would help
us much to know this by ourselves, in the time of
our humility, that we may be engaged to more watch-
fulness and resistance of our pride.

262

2. When we are reproved of any disgraceful sin,
how hardly goes it down, and how many excuses
have we ! How seldom are we brought to down-
right penitent confessions ! What secret distaste is
apt to be rising in our hearts, against the reprover !
And how seldom hath he that hearty thanks, which
so great a benefit deserves ! And would any think,
in our humiliations and large confessions unto God,
that we were so proud ! To know this by our-
selves, would make us more suspicious and ashamed
to be guilty of it,

3. When any preferment or honour is to be given,
or any work to be done that is a mark of dignity,
how apt are we to think ourselves as fit for it as any,
and to be displeased, if the honour or employment
do pass by us !

4. When we are admired, applauded, or exces-
sively esteemed and loved, how apt are we to be too
much pleased with it ! which showeth a proud desire
to be somebody in the world; and that there is much
of this venom at the bottom in our hearts, even when
we lay ourselves in the dust, and walk in sackcloth,
and pass the heaviest judgment on ourselves.

7. Another instance of our unacquaintedness
with our hearts, and the latent, undiscerned corrup-
tion of them, is our little discerning or bewailing
those secret master-sins, which lie at the root of all
the rest, and are the life of the old man, and the
cause of all thg miscarriages of our lives. As, ].
Unbelief of the truth of the Holy Scriptures, of the
immortality of the soul, and the life of joy or misery
hereafter, and the other articles of the Christian
faith. What abundance of Christians are sensible

263

of their unbelief, as to the applying acts of faith that
tend to their assurance of their own salvation, that
are little sensible of any defect in the assenting act,
or of any secret root of unbelief about the truth of
the Gospel revelations ! And yet, alas ! it is this
that weakeneth all our graces: it is this that feedeth
all our woe ! O happy men, were we free from
this ! What prayers should we put up ! What
lives should we lead ! How watchfully should we
walk ! With what contempt should we look on the
allurements of the world ! With what disdain
should we think on fleshly lusts ! With what in-
dignation should we meet the tempter, and scorn his
base, unreasonable motions, if we did but perfectly
believe the very truth of the Gospel, and world to
come ! How careful and earnest should we be, to
make our calling and election sure ! How great a
matter should we make of sin, and of helps and hin-
derances in the way to heaven ! How much should
we prefer that state of life that furthereth our salva-
tien, before that whicli strengtheneth our snares, by
furthering our prosperity and pleasure in the world,
if we were not weak or wnntinc in our belief of the
certain verity of these things ! Did we better know
the badness of our hearts herein, it would engage us
more in fortifying the vitals, and looking better to
our foundation, and winding up this spring of faith,
which must give life to all right motions of the
soul.

2. How insensible are too many, of the great im-
perfection of their love to God ! What passionate
complaints have we of the want of sorrow for their
sin, and want of memory, and of ability to pray, &c.

264

when their complaints for want of love to God, and
more affecting knowledge of him, are so cold and
customary, as shows us they little observe the great-
ness of this sinful want ! This is the very heart,
and sum, and poison, of all the sins of our soul and
life. So much as a man loves God, so much he is
holy : and so much he hath of the Spirit and image
of Jesus Christ : and so much he hath of all sav-
ing graces : and so much he will abhor iniquity :
and so much he will love the commands of God.
As love is the sum of the law and prophets, so
should it be the sum of our care and study, through
all our lives, to exercise and strencthen it.

3. How little are most Christians troubled for
want of love to men, to brethren, neighbours, and
enemies ! How cold are their complaints for their
defects in this, in comparison of other of their com-
plaints ! But is there not cause of as deep humi-
liation for this sin, as almost any other? It seems
to me, that want of love is one of the most prevalent
diseases among us, when I hear it so little seriously
lamented. I often hear people say, O that we could
hear more attentively and affectionately, and pray
more fervently, and weep for sin more plenteously:
but how seldom do I hear them say, O that we did
love our brethren more ardently, and our neighbours
and enemies more heartily than we do, and set our-
selves to do them good ! There is so little pains
taken to bring the heart to the love of others, and
so few and cold requests put up for it, when yet the
heart is backward to it, that makes me conclude that
charity is weaker in most of us than we observe.
And indeed it appearcth so when it comes to trial :

265

to that trial which Christ will judge it by at last,
Matt. XXV. When love must be showed by any
self-denial, or costly demonstration, by parting with
our food and raiment to supply the wants of others,
and by hazarding ourselves for them in their distress,
then see how much we love indeed ! Good words
cost little; so cheap an exercise of charity as is men-
tioned, (James ii.) " Depart in peace, be warmed, and
filled," is an insufficient evidence of the life of grace,
and will do as little for the soul of the giver, as for
the body of the receiver. And how little hazardous
or costly love is found among us, either to enemies,
neighbours, or to saints ! Did we better know our
hearts, there would be more care and diligence used
to bring them to effectual, fervent love, than to those
duties that are of less importance; and we should
learn what this meaneth, " I will have mercy and
not sacrifice," which Christ sets the Pharisees twice
to learn.

8. Another instance of unobserved corruption of
the heart, is, the frequent and secret insinuations of
selfishness in all that we do towards God or man.
When we think we are serving God alone, and have
cleansed our hearts from mixtures and deceit, before
we are aware, self-interest, or self-esteem, or self-
conceit, or self-love, or self-will, or self-seeking, do
secretly creep in, and mar the work. We think we
are studying, and. preaching, and writing purely for
God, and the common good, or the benefit of souls;
and perhaps little observe how subtlely selfishness
insinuates, and makes a party, and biasseth us from
the , holy ends, and the simplicity and sincerity, which
we thought we had carefully maintained: so that we
M 43

26G

are studying, and preaching, and writing for ourselves,
when we take no notice of it. When we enter upon
any office, or desire preferment, or riches, or honour
in the world, we think we do it purely for God, to
furnish us for his service, and Httic think how much
of selfishness is in our desires. When we are doinsr
justice, or showing mercy, in giving alms, or exhort-
ing the ungodly to repent, or doing any other work
of piety or charity, we little think how much of sel-
fishness is secretly latent in the bent and intention
of the heart. When we think we are defending the
truth and cause of God, by disputing, writing, or by
the sword; or when we think we are faithfully main-
taining, on one side, order and obedience, against
confusion, and turbulent, disquiet spirits, or the
unify of the church against division; or, on the other
hand, that we arc sincerely opposing pharisaical cor-
ruptions, and hypocrisy, and tyranny, and persecu-
tion, and are defending the purity of divine worship,
and the power and spirituality of religion; in all
these cases we little know how much of carnal self
may be secretly unobserved in the >vork.

But above all others, Christ himself, and the Holy
Ghost, that searclieth the hidden things of the heart,
hath warned one sort to be suspicious of their hearts ;
and that is, those that cannot bear the dissent and
infirmities of their brethren in tolerable things, and
those that are calling for fire from heaven, and are
all for force and cruelty in religion ; for vexing, im-
prisoning, banishing, or otherwise doing as they
would not be done by, proportionably in their own
case. He tells his two disciples, in such a case,
" Yc know not what manner of spirit ye are of."

267

As if he should say, ' You think you purely seek my
honour in the revenge of this contempt and opposi-
tion of unbelievers, and you think it would much re-
dound to the propagation of the faith; and therefore
you think that all this zeal is purely from my Spirit:
but you little know how much of a proud, carnal,
selBsh spirit is in these desires ! You would fain
have me, and yourselves with me, to be openly vin-
dicated by fire from heaven, and be so owned by God
that all men may admire you, and you may exercise
a dominion in the world ; and you stick njt at the
sufferings and ruin of these sinners, so you may at-
tain your end: but I tell you, this selfish, cruel spi-
rit, is unlike my Spirit, which inclineth to patience,
forbearance, and compassion.'

" Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye."
" Who art thou that judgest another man's ser-
vant ?" " Why dost thou judge thy brother? and
why dost thou set at nought thy brother? We
shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ."
*' Every one of us shall give account of himself to
God." " We then that are strong ought to bear
the infirmities of the weak, and not to please our-
selves. Let every one of us please his neighbour
for his good to edification." " Brethren, if a man
be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thy-
self, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's
burdens, and so fulfil the law of Ciirist."

So, also, men arc frequently mistaken, when they
are zealously contending against their faithful pas-
tors and their brethren, and vilifying others, and
quenching love, and troubling the church, upon pre-
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268

teuce of greater knowledge or integrity in themselves,
which is notably discovered, and vehemently pressed,
by the apostle, James iii. 1. &c. where you may see
how greatly the judgment of the Spirit of God, con-
cerning our hearts, doth differ from men's judgment
of themselves. They that had a masterly, conten-
tious, envious zeal, did think they were of the wiser
sort of Christians, and of the highest form in the
school of Christ; when yet the Holy Ghost telleth
them that their wisdom descended not from above,
but was^arthly, sensual, and devilish; and that their
envy and strife doth bring confusion, and every evil
work ; and that the wisdom from above is neither
unholy nor contentious, but " first pure, and then
peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated,"

You see, then, how often and dangerously we are
deceived by unacquaintedness with ourselves; and
how selfish, carnal principles, ends, and motives, are
often mixed in the actions which we think are the
most excellent for wisdom, zeal, and piety. O there-
fore, what cause have we to study, and search, and
watch such hearts, and not too boldly or carelessly to
trust them !

And it is not only hypocrites that are subject to
these deceitful sins, who have them in dominion, but
true believers, that have a remnant of this carnal,
selfish principle, continually offering to insinuate and
corrupt their most excellent works, and even all that
they do.

9. The strong eruption of those passions that
seemed to be quite mortified, dolh show that there is
more evil lurking in the heart than ordinarily doth
appear ! How calmly do we converse together, how

269

mildly do we speak, till some provoking word or
wrong do blow the coals ! And then the dove ap-
peareth to partake of a fierce nature ; and we can
perceive that in the flame, which we perceive not in
the spark. When a provocation can bring forth
censorious, reviling, scornful words, it shows what
before was latent in the heart.

10. We are very apt to think those affections to
be purely spiritual, which, in the issue, appear to be
mixed with carnality. Our very love to the assem-
blies and ordinances of worship, and to ministers,
and other servants of the Lord; to books, and know-
ledge, are ordinarily mixed ; and good and bad are
strangely complicated, and twisted together in the
same affections and works. And the love that be-
ginneth in the Spirit, is apt to degenerate into car-
nal love, and to have too much respect to riches, or
honour, or personage, or birth, or particular con-
cerns of our own, and so it is corrupted, as wine that
turneth into vinegar, before we are aware. And
though still there be uprightness of heart, yet too
much hypocrisy is joined with it, when it is little
perceived or suspected.

And thus, in ten instances, I have showed you
' how much the servants of Christ themselves, may
be mistaken, or unacquainted with their hearts; and
how the work of mortification is hindered by this
covering of so many secret, unobserved sins. But
I must here desire you to take heed of running into
their extreme, who hereupon conclude, that their
hearts, being so dark and so deceitful, are not at all
to be understood; and, therefore, they are still so
suspicious of the worst, as that they will not be per-

270

suaded of the grace that plainly worketh in them,
and will condemn themselves for that which they
are not guilty of, upon suspicion that they may be
guilty, and not know it, and think that all the sin
that they forbear, is but for want of a temptation ;
and that, if they had the same temptations, they
should be as bad as any others.

I would entreat these persons to consider of these
truths, for their better information :

1. Temptations do not only show the evil that is
in the heart, but breed much more, and turn a spark
into a flame. Adam was made a sinner by tempta-
tion.

2. There is no Christian so mortified, but hath
such remnants of corruption and concupiscence, as
would quickly bring forth heinous sins, if tempta-
tions beyond strength were let loose upon him.
What need you more proof than the sad instances
of Noah, Lot, David, Solomon, and Peter? It
did not prove that any of these were graceless hypo-
crites before, because they fell so foully by tempta-
tions. And yet these objectors think they are grace-
less, because some strong temptations might make
them fall.

3. Is it not God's way of saving men, to give
them so much inward grace as no temptation can
overcome, but to preserve and bring them safe to
heaven, by moral conduct, together with internal
changes of their hearts. And, therefore, he keep-
eth men from sin, by keeping them from tempta-
tions that are too strong for them. All human
strength is limited: and there are none on earth
have such a measure of grace, but a temptation may

271

be imagined so strong, as to overcome them. And
if God should let Satan do his worst, there must be
extraordinary assistances to preserve us, or we should
fall. Bless God if he " lead you not into tempta-
tion, but deliver you from the evil," by keeping you
far enough from the snare. This is the way of
preservation that we are taught to pray and hope
for.

4. And, therefore, it is our own duty to keep as f;>r
from temptations as we can ; and if we have grace
to avoid the sin by avoiding the temptation, we have
such grace as God useth for the saving of his own;
not that he hath saving grace that would live wick-
edly, if he were but tempted to it by those ordinary
trials that human nature may expect ; but the soul
that preferreth God and glory before the pleasures
of sin for a season, if it so continue, shall be saved,
though possibly there might have been a temptation
so strong as would have conquered the measure of
grace that he had, if it had not been fortified with
new supplies. Avoid temptation, that you may avoid
the sin and punishment. Make not yourselves worse,
on pretence of discovering how bad you are. All
men are defectible, and capable of every sin, and
must be saved from it by that grace which worketh on
nature according to that nature, and prevaileth with
reason by means agreeable to reason. If we think
we are wicked, because we find that we have hearts
that could be wicked, were they let alone, we may
as well say, Adam was wicked in his innoccncy, much
more David, Solomon, and Peter, before their falls.
It is not he that can sin that shall be punished ; but he
that doth sin, or would sin if he could, and had rather

272

have the sin for its pleasure, than be free from it,
and be holy, in order to salvation, and the favour,
and pleasing, and enjoying of God in endless glory.

5. Lastly, Let such persons try themselves by
their conquest over the temptations which they have,
and not by imaginary conflicts with all that they
think may possibly at any time assault them. You
have still the same flesh to deal with, and the same
world and devil, that will not let you go to heaven
without temptation. If the temptations which you
have already, keep you not from preferring the love
and fruition of God before the pleasure of the flesh ;
and a life of faith and holiness, before a life of infi-
delity, and impiety, and sensuality, so that you had
rather live the former than the latter, I am sure, then,
your temptations have not kept you from a state of
grace. And you may be assured, that, for the time
to come, if you watch and pray, yoii may escape the
danger of temptation; and that God will increase
your strength, if he increase your trials : be not se-
cure, be you ever so holy. Think not that you
have a nature that cannot sin, or cannot be tempted
to T love of sin: but "let him that thinketh he
standeth, take heed lest he fall. There hath no
temptation taken you, but such as is common to
man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to
be tempted above that you are able; but will, with
the temptation, also make a way to escape, that you
may be able to bear it."

And thus I have showed you how self-ignorance
hinderetb the conquest and mortifying of sin, even in
the godly, and now shall add some further motives.

2. Not knowing ourselves, and the secret corrup-

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tions of our hearts, doth make sin surprise us the
more dangerously, and break forth the more shame-
fully, and wound our consciences the more terribly.
The unsuspected sin hath least opposition, and, when
it breaks out, doth, like an unobserved fire, go far
before we are awakened to quench it. And it con-
foundeth us witFi shame, to find ourselves so much
worse than we imagined. It overwhelmeth the soul
with despairing thoughts, to find itself so bad, when
it thought it had been better. We are still ready
to think whatever we discern that is good within us,
that we may as well be mfstaken now as we were be-
fore. And thus, our present self-ignorance, when
discovered, may hinder all the comforts of our lives.

3. Lastly, not knowing ourselves, and our parti-
cular sins, and wants, and weaknesses, doth keep us
from a particular application of the promises, and from
seeking those particular remedies from Christ which
our case requireth; and so our mercies lie by ne-
glected, while we need them, and do not understand
our need.

CHAPTER VIII.

Exhortations to the Godly to Jcnova their Graces and
Duties.

II. I AM next to persuade believers to know their
graces and their happiness. Good is the object of
voluntary knowledge, but Evil of forced involuntary
knowledge, unless as the knowledge of evil tcndeth
M 3

274

to some good. Therefore, methinks, you should be
readiest to this part of the study of yourselves : and
yet, alas ! the presumptuous are not more unwilling
to know their sin and misery, than some perplexed
Christians are backward to acknowledge their grace
and happiness 1 How hard is it to convince them of
the tender love of God towards them, and of the sin-
cerity of their love to him ; and to make them be-
lieve that they are dear to God when they loathe
themselves ! How hard is it to persuade them that
the riches of Christ, the promises of the gbspel, and
the inheritance of the saints, belonfr to them ! And
the reasons, among others, are principally these :

1. The remnant of sins are so great, and so ac-
tive, and troublesome, as that the feeling of these
contrary dispositions doth hinder them from ob-
ser\'ing the operations of grace. It is not easy to
discern the sincerity of faith among so much unbe-
lief; or the sincerity of love, where there is so much
averseness; or of humility, where there is so much
pride; or of repentance and mortification, where
there is so much concupiscence and inclination to
sin: especially when grace, by its enmity to sin, doth
make the soul so suspicious and sensible of it, as
that the observation of it turns their mind from the
observation of the contrary good that is in them.
Health is not observed in other parts, when the
feeling of the stone, or but the toothache, takes us
up. The thoughts are called all to the part af-
fected ; and sickness and wounds are felt more sen-
sibly than health. The fears of misery and sin,
are more easily excited, and more passionate than
love and hope, and all the affections that are em-

275

ployed in the prosecution of good. And, in the
midst of fears, it is hard to feel the matter of our
joys: fear is a tyrant if it exceed, and will not per-
mit us to believe or observe the cause of hope.
These fears are useful to our preservation, but they
too often pervert our judgments, and hinder our due
consolation. Saith Seneca, " He that feareth snares,
doth not fall into them : a wise man escapeth evil
by always fearing it." And the Holy Ghost saith,
" Happy is the man that feareth alway ; but he that
hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief."

Moderate fears, then, are given to believers for
their necessary preservation, that, walking among
enemies and snares, they may take heed and escape
them. But when this passion doth exceed, it
abuseth us, and drowns the voice of reason ; it
maketh us believe that every temptation is a sin,
and every sin is such as cannot stand with grace,
and will hardly ever be pardoned by Christ. Every
sin against knowledge and conscience doth seem al-
most unpardonable; and if it were deliberate, after
profession of religion, it seems to be the sin against
the Holy Ghost. As children and other fearful
persons, that fear the devil by way of apparitions,
do think in the dark he is ready to lay iiold on
them; so the fearful Christian is still thinking
that thing he feareth is coming upon him. The
fear of an unrcgeneratc, unpardoned state, doth make
him think he is in it; and the fear of the wrath of
God doth make him think that he is under it. It
is wonderfully hard, in a fearful state, or indeed in
any passion that is strong, to have the free use of
judgment for the knowing of ourselves, and to dis-

276

cern any grace, or evidence, or mercy, which is con-
trary to our fears, especially when the feeling of
much corruption doth turn our eyes from the obser-
vation of good, and we are still taken up with the
matter of our disease.

2. Another cause that we hardly know our graces,
is because they are weak and small; and therefore,
in the midst of so much corruption, are oftentimes
hardly discerned from none. A little faith, even as
a grain of mustard-seed, may save us ; a little love
to God that is sincere will be accepted; and weak
desires may be fulfilled ; but they are frequently un-
discerned, or their sincerity questioned by those that
have them, and therefore bring but little comfort.
Peter's little faith did keep him from drowning, but
not from doubting and fearintj he should be drowned,
nor from beginning to sink. " He walked on the
water to go to Jesus; but when he saw the wind
boisterous he was afraid; and, beginning to sink, he
cried, saying. Lord, save me. And immediately
Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and
said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst
thou doubt?" So the little faith of the disciples
kept them from perishing, but not from their fear of
perishing. " When a great tempest arose, so that
the ship was covered with waves, they cry, Lord,
save us, we perish : and he saith to them. Why are
ye afraid, O ye of little faith ?" The little faith of
the same disciples entitled them to the fatherly pro-
tection and provision of God; but it kept them not
from sinful cares and fears, about what they should
cat or drink, or wherewith they should be clothed.
" Take no thought for your life, what you shall

277

eat, or drink, or for your body what you shall put
on. — Why take you thought for raimeut ? — If God
so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and
to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" So in
Matt. xvi. 7, 8. The seed that Christ likeneth his
kingdom to, hath life while it is buried in the earth,
and is visible while a little seed ; but is not so ob-
servable as when it cometh to be a tree. Though
God " despise not the day of little things," and
though he " will not break the bruised reed, or
quench the smoking flax," yet ourselves or others
cannot discern and value these obscure beginnings,
as God doth. But because we cannot easily find a
little faith, and a little love, when we are looking
for it, we take the non-appearance for a non-exis-
tence, and call it none.

3. Sanctificalion is oft unknown to those that
have it, because they do not try and judge them-
selves by sure infallible marks, the essentials of the
new man; but by uncertain qualifications, that are
mutable, and belong but to the beauty and activity
of the soul.

The essence of holiness, as denominated from
the object, is the consent to the three articles of the
covenant of grace. 1. That we give up ourselves
to God, as our God and reconciled Father in Jesus
Christ. 2. That we give up ourselves to Jesus
Christ, as our Redeemer and Saviour, to recover us,
reconcile us, and bring us unto God. 3. That we
give up ourselves to the Holy Ghost as our Sancti-
fier, to guide and illuminate us, and perfect the
image of God upon us, and prepare us for glory.

278

The essence of sanctificatlon, as denominated
from its opposite objects, is nothing but our renun-
ciation and rejection of the flesh, the world, and the
devil ; of pleasures, profits, and honours, as they
would be preferred before God, and draw us to for-
sake him.

The essence of sanctification, as denominated
from our faculties, which are the subject of it, is
nothing but this preferring of God, and grace, and
glory, above the said pleasures, profits, and honours.
1. By the estimation of our understandings. 2. By
the resolved habitual choice of our wills. 3. And
in the bent and drift of our endeavours in our con-
versations. In these three acts, as upon the first
three objects, and against the other three objects,
lieth all that is essential to sanctification, and that
we should judge of our sincerity, and title to salva-
tion by, as I before showed.

But besides these, there are many desirable
qualities and gifts, which we may seek for, and be
thankful for; but are not essential to our sanctifica-
tion. Such are,

1. The knowledge of other truths, besides the
essentials of faith and duty, and the soundness of
judgment, and freedom from error in these lesser
points.

2. A strong memory to carry away the things
that we read and hear,

3. A right order of our thoughts, when we can
keep them from confusion, roving, and distraction.

4. Freedom from too strong affections about the
creatures, and from disturbing passions.

5. Lively affections, and feeling operations of

279

the soul towards God, in holy duty, and tender
meltings of the heart for sin, which are very desir-
able, but depend so much on the temperature of the
body, and outward accidents, and are but the vigour,
and not the life and being of the new creature, that
we must not judge of our sincerity by them. Some
Christians scarce know what any such lively feelings
are; and some have them very seldom, and, I think,
no one constantly; and, therefore, if our peace, or
judgment of ourselves, be laid on these, we shall be
still wavering and unsettled, and tossed up and
down as the waves of the sea; sometimes seeming
to be almost in heaven, and presently near the gates
of hell : wlien our state doth not change at all, as
these feelings and affectionate motions of the soul
do; but we are still in our safe relation to God,
while our first essential graces do continue, though
our failings, dulness, weaknesses, and wants, must
be matter of moderate filial humiliation to us,

6. The same must be said of all common gifts,
of utterance, in conference or prayer, and of quick-
ness of understanding, and such like.

7. Lastly, The same must be said also of all that
rectitude of life, and those degrees of obedience
that are above mere sincerity; in which one true
Christian doth exceed another; and in which we
should all desire to abound; but must not judge
ourselves to be unsanctified, merely because we are
imperfect; or to be unjustified sinners, merely be-
cause we are sinners.

In judging ourselves by our lives and practices,
two extremes must be carefully avoided : on the
left hand that of the profane, and of the Antiuo-

280

mians. The former cannot distinguish between
sanctified and unsanctified, justified and unjustified
sinners; and when they have once conceited that
they are in the favour of God, whatever they do,
they say, ' We are but sinners, and so are the best.'
The latter teach men, that when once they are jus-
tified, they are not, for any sins, to doubt again of
their justified state, lest they should seem to make
God changeable.

On the other hand must be avoided this extreme
of perplexed doubting Christians, that make all
their sins, or too many of them, to be matter of
doubting, which should be but matter of humilia-
tion.

I know it is a very great difficulty that hath long
perplexed the doctors of the church, to define what
sins are consistent, and what inconsistent, with a
state of holiness and salvation, which, if any distin-
guish by the names of mortal and venial, taking the
words in no other sense, I shall not quarrel with
them. At present I shall say but this, for the re-
solving of this great and weighty question.

1. It is not the bare act of sin, in itself con-
sidered, that must determine the case; but the act
compared with the life of grace, and with true re-
pentance. Whoever hath the love of God and life
of grace, is in a state of salvation ; and therefore,
whatever sin consisteth with the fore-described es-
sentials of sanctification, namely, the habitual devo-
tion of the soul to God, the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, and the habitual renunciation of the flesh,
the world, and devil, consisteth with a state of life.
And true repentance proveth the pardon of all sin ;

281

and therefore, whatever sin consisteth with habitual
repentance, which is the hatred of sin, as sin, and
hath actual repentance when it is observed, and
there is time for dehberation, consisteth with a state
of grace. Now, in habitual conversion or repen-
tance, the habitual willingness to leave our sin,
must be more than our sinful habitual willingness to
keep it. Now you may by this discern, as to parti-
cular acts, whether they are consistent with habitual
hatred of sin. For some sins are so much in the
power of the will, that he that hath a habitual
hatred of them, cannot frequently commit thera.
And some sins are also of so heinous a nature or
degree, that he that habitually hateth sin, cannot
frequently commit them ; not at all, while his hatred
to them is in act. And he that truly repenteth of
them, cannot frequently return to them; because
that showeth that repentance was indeed either but
superficial, or not habitual. But some sins are not
so great and heinous, and therefore do not so much
deter the soul, and some are not so fully in the
power of a sanctified will, as passions, thoughts, &c.
and therefore may oftcner be committed in consis-
tency with habitual repentance or hatred of sin. To
examine particulars, would be tedious and digressive.

2. And I must further answer, that our safety,
and, consequently, our peace and comfort, lieth in
flying as far from sin as we can. And therefore, he
that will sin as much as will consist with any sparks
of grace, shall bury those sparks by his sin, and
shall not know that he hath any grace, nor have the
comfort of it; as being in a condition unfit for actual
assurance and comfort, till he be brought to actual
repentance and amendment.

282

Thus have I showed you, by what you must try
your sanctification, if you will know it; which I be-
fore proved to you from Scripture.

4. Another cause that many Christians are igno-
rant of their state of grace, is their looking so much
at what they should be, and wliat others are that
have a riglit degree of grace, and what is commanded
as our duty, that they observe not what they have
already, because it is short of what they ought to
have. We are thus too much about outward mer-
cies. We are more troubled for one mercy taken
from us, than comforted in many that are left us.
We observe our diseases and our sores, more sensi-
bly than our health. David, for one Absalom, is so
afflicted, that he wished he had died for him though
a rebel ! when his comfort in Solomon, and his other
children is laid aside. As all the humours flow to
the pained place, so do our thoughts; and so we
overlook the matter of our comfort.

5. And it very much hindereth the knowledge of
our graces, that we search upon so great disadvan-
tages as hinder a true discovery. Among many
others, I will instance but in two or three.

1. We surprise our souls with sudden questions,
and look for a full and satisfactory answer, before
we can well recollect ourselves, and call up our
evidences ; and we expect to know the sum or pro-
duct, before our consciences have had leisure deli-
berately to cast up their accounts. Yea, when we
have set to it, and by diligent search with the best
assistances, have discovered our sincerity, and re-
corded the judgment, if conscience cannot presently
recall its proofs, and make it out upon every surprise.

283

we unjustly question all that is past, and will never
rest ill any judgment, but are still calling over all
again, as if the cause had never been tried. And
then the judgment passeth according to our present
temper and disposition, when many of the circum-
stances are forgotten, and many of the witnesses are
out of the way, that last assisted us.

2. Perhaps we judge (as I said before) in the fit
of a passion of fear or grief, which imperiously over-
ruleth or disturbeth reason : and then no wonder, if
in our haste we say, that all men that vvould comfort
us are liars. And if, with David, in the " day of
our trouble, our souls do even refuse to be com-
forted ;" and if we remember God, and we are
troubled more, and if " our spirit be overwhelmed
in us: when he holdeth our eyes waking, and we are
so troubled that we cannot speak." And if we
question whether " the Lord will cast off for ever,
and will be favourable no more." Whether " his
mercy be clean gone for ever, and his promise fail
for evermore:" whether " he hath forgotten to be
gracious, and hath shut up his tender mercies in
displeasure:" till a calm deliver us from the mistake,
and make us say, * This is our infirmity,' we think
that God doth cast off our souls, and " iiideth his
face from us," when " our soul is full of troubles,
and our life draweth nigh unto the grave : when we
are afflicted and ready to die from our youth up, and
are distracted, while we suffer the terrors of the
Lord;" as he complaineth. Passion judgeth accord-
ing to its nature, and not according to truth.

3. Or perhaps we judge, when our friends, our
memory, and other helps are out of the way, and we
are destitute of due assistance.

€84.

4. Or when our bodies are weak or distempered
with melancholy, which representeth all this in black
and terrible colours to the soul, and will hear no
language but forsaken, miserable, and undone. You
may as well take the judgment of a man half drunk,
or half asleep, about the greatest matters of your
lives, as to take the judgment of conscience in such
a state of disadvantage, about the condition of your
souls.

5. Another hinderance to us, is, that we cannot
take comfort from the former sight of grace that we
have had, unless we have a continued present sight.
And so all our labour in trying, and all our experi-
ences, and all God's former, manifestations of him-
self to the soul are lost, as to our present comfort,
when our grace is out of sight: like foolish travellers,
that think they are out of the way, and are ready to
turn back, when ever any hill doth interpose, and
hinder them from seeing the place they go to. As
if it were no matter of comfort to us, to say, I did
find the evidences of grace; I once recorded a judg-
ment of my sincerity: but the former is still ques-
tioned rather than the latter. When, with David,
we should " consider the days of old, the years of
ancient times, and call to remembrance our songs in
the night, and commune with our hearts in such a
diligent search," and remembrance of the mercies
formerly received.

6. Lastly, The operations of man's soul are na-
turally so various, and, from corruption, are so con-
fused and so dark, that we are ofttimes in a maze and
at a loss, when we are most desirous to judge aright;
and scarcely know where, in so great disorder, to find

285

any thing that we seek; and know it not when we
find it: so that our hearts are almost as strange to
themselves as to one another; and sometimes more
confident of other men's sincerity than our own,
where there is no more matter for our confidence.

CHAPTER IX.
Motives to labour to Know our Sanctification.

Having thus showed you the causes of our ig-
norance of our sanctification, I shall briefly tell you
some reasons that should move you to seek to be
acquainted with it, where it is.

1. The knowledge of God is the most excellent
knowledge: and therefore the best sort of creature-
knowledge is, that which hath the most of God in
it. And undoubtedly there is more of God in holi-
ness, which is his image, than in common things.
Sins and wants have nothing of God in them; they
must be fathered on the devil and yourselves, and
therefore the knowledge of them is good but by acci-
dent, because the knowledge even of evil hath a
tendency to good: and therefore it is commanded
and made our duty, for the good which it tendeth
to. It is the Divine nature and image within you,
which hath the most of God; and therefore to know
this, is the high and noble knowledge. To know
Christ within us, is our happiness on earth, in order
to the knowledge of him in glory " face to face,"
which is the happiness of heaven. To " know God,

286

tliougli darkly through a glass," and but in part, is
far above all creature-knowledge. The knowledge
of him raisetli, quickeneth, sanctifieth, cnlargeth,
and advanceth all our faculties. It is " life eternal
to know God in Christ." Therefore, where God
appeareth most, there should our understandings be
most diligently exercised in study and observation.

2. It is a most delightful felicitating knowledge,
to know that Christ is in you. If it be delightful
to the rich to see their wealth, their houses, and
lands, and goods, and money: and if it be delightful
to the honourable to see their attendance, and hear
their own commendations and applause; how delight-
ful must it be to a true believer to find Christ within
him, and to know his title to eternal life ? If the
knowledge of " full barns," and " much goods laid
up for many years," can make a sensual worldling
say, " Soul, take thy ease, eat, drink and be merry,"
methinks the knowledge of our interest in Christ
and heaven, should make us say, " Thou hast put
gladness in my heart, more than in the time that
their corn and wine increased." " Return unto thy
rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully
with thee." If we say, with David, " Blessed are
they that dwell i-n thy house; they will be still
praising thee," much more may we say, Blessed are
they in whom Christ dwelleth, and the Holy Ghost
hath made his temple, they should be still praising
thee. " Blessed is the man whom thou choosest,
and causest to approach unto thee, that he may
dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple."
But this is upon supposition, that he be first blessed
by Christ's approach to him, and dwelling in him.

287

If you ask, ' How is it that Cliiist dvvelleth in
us;' I answer, 1. Objectively, as he is apprehended
by our faith and love: as the things or persons that
we think of, and love and delight in, are said to
dwell in our minds or hearts. 2. By the Holy
Ghost, who, as a principle of new and heavenly life,
is given by Christ the head, unto his members; and
as the agent of Christ doth illuminate, sanctify, and
guide the soul. " He that keepeth his command-
ments, dwelleth in him, and he in him: and hereby
we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which
he hath given us." That of Ephes. iii. 17. may
be taken in either, or both senses comprehensively,
" That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith."

3. Did you know that Christ is in you by his
Spirit, it might make every place and condition
comfortable to you ! If you are alone, it may re-
joice you to think what company dwelleth continually
with you in your hearts. If you are wearied with
evil company without, it may comfort you to think
that you have better within : when you have com-
munion with the saints, it is your joy to think that
you have nearer communion witii the Lord of saints.
You may well say with David, " When I awake,
I am still with thee." " I have set the Lord always
before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall
not be moved."

4f. Did you know Christ within you, it would
much help you in believing wliat is written of him
in the gospel. Though to the ungodly the mys-
teries of the kingdom of God do seem incredible,
yet when you have experience of the power of it on
your souls, and find the imago of it on your hearts,

288

and the same Christ within you conforming you to
what he commandeth in his word, this will work
such a suitableness to the gospel in your hearts as
will make the work of faith more easy. Saith the
Apostle, " We have seen, and do testify, that the
Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world :"
(there is their outward experience;) " and we have
known and believed the love that God hath to us.
God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth
in God, and God in him:" (there is their faith con-
firmed by their inward evidence: no wonder if they
that have God dwelling in them by holy love, do be-
lieve the love that God hath to them.) This is the
great advantnge that the sanctified have in the work
of faith, above those that much excel them in dis-
puting, and are furnished with more arguments for
the Christian verity: Christ hath his witness abiding
in them. " The fruits of the Spirit bear witness to
the incorruptible seed, the word of God, that liveth-
and abideth for ever." The impress on the lioart
bears witness to the seal that caused it. Labour to
know the truth of your sanctification, that you may
be confirmed by it in the truth of the word tliat
sanctifieth you, and may " rejoice in him that hath
chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the
Spirit, and belief of the truth."

5. If you can come to the knowledge of Christ
within you, it will be much easier to trust upon him,
and fly to him in all your particular necessities, and
to make use of his mediatorship with holy confidence.
When others fly from Christ with trembling, and
know not whether he will speak for them, or help
them, but look at him with strange and doubtful

289

thoughts, it will be otherwise with you that have
assurance of his continual love and presence. When
you find Christ so near you, as to dwell within you,
(and so particular and abundant is his love to you, as
to have given you his Spirit, and all his graces,) it
will produce a sweet delightful boldness, and make
you run to him as your help and refuge, in all your
necessities. When you find the great promise ful-
filled to yourselves, " I will put my laws in their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them ; and
their sins and iniquities will 1 remember no more:"
you will " have boldness to enter into the holiest by
the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which
he hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is
to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over
the house of God, you may draw near with a true
heart, in full assurance of faith, having your hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience," (or the conscience
of evil) " as your bodies are washed" (in baptism)
" with pure water." " In Christ vve may have bold-
ness and access with confidence, by the faith of him."
This intimate acquaintance with our great High
Priest that is " passed into the heavens," and yet
abideth and reigneth in our hearts, will encourage
us to " hold fast our profession, and- to come boldly
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of need." When by
unfeigned love, we " know that we are of the truth,
and may assure our hearts before him, and our heart
condemneth us not, then we have confidence towards
God; and whatever we ask we receive of him, be-
cause we keep his commandments, and do those
things that are pleasing in his sight."

N 45

290

G. W'licn once you know that you liave Cliiist
within you, you may cheerfully proceed in the way
of life; when doubting Christians, th:U know not
whether tliey are in the way or not, are still looking
behind them, and spend their time in perplexed
fears, lest they are out of the way, and go on with
heaviness and trouble, as uncertain whether they
may not lose their labour; and are still questioning
their groundwork, when the building should go on.
It is an unspeakable mercy, when a believing soul is
freed from these distracting hindering doubts, and
may boldly and cheerfully hold on his way, and be
walking or working, when other men are fearing
and inquiring the way; and may, with patiei)ce and
comfort, wait for the reward, the crown of life, vvhen
others are still questioning, whether they were ever
regenerate, and whether their hopes have any ground.
We may be "steadfast, unmoveable, always abound-
ing in the work of the Lord, when we know that
our labour is not in vain in the Lord." We may
then " gird up the loins of the mind, and in sobriety
hope unto the end, for the grace that is to be brought
us, at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

7. When you are assured that you have Christ
within you, it may preserve you from those ter-
rors of soul that affright them that have no such
assurance. O ! he that knoweth what it is to
think of the intolerable v;rath of God, and says,
' I fear I am the object of this wrath, and must bear
this intolerable load everlastingly,' may know what a
mercy it is to be assured of our escape. He that
knows what it is to think of hell, and say, ' I know
not but those endless flames may be my portion,'

291

will know what a mercy it is to be assured of a de-
liverance, and to be able to say, " I know I am saved
from the wrath to come;" and that " we are not
of them that draw back to perdition, but of them
that believe to the saving of the soul;" and that
" God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain
salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for
us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with him:" we may "comfort ourselves
together, and edify one another," when we have this
assurance.

They that have felt the burden of a wounded
spirit, and know what it is to feel the terrors of
the Lord, and to see hell-fire, as it were, before
their eyes, and to be kept waking by the dreadful
apprehensions of their danger, and to be pursued
daily by an accusing conscience, setting their sins
in order before them, and bringing tiie threatenings
of God to their remembrance ; these persons will
understand, that to be assured of a Christ within us,
and, consequently, of a Christ tint is preparing a
place of glory for us, is a mercy that the mind of
man is now unable to value, accordin'r to the ten
thousandth part of its worth.

8. Were you assured that Christ himself is in
you, it would sweeten all the mercies of your lives.
It would assure you, that they are all the pledges
of his love; and love in all, would be the kernel and
the life of all. Your friends, your healtli, your
wealth, your deliverances, would be steeped in the
dearest love of Christ, and have a spiritual sweet-
ness in them, when to the worldling they have but
a carnal, unwholesome, luscious sweetness; and to
N 2

292

the doubting Christians, they will be turned into
troubles, while they are questioning the love and
meaning of the Giver; and whether they are sent
for good to them, or to aggravate their condemna-
tion; and the company of the Giver will advance
your estimation of the gift. To have money in
your purses, and goods in your houses, and books in
your studies, and friends in your near and sweet
society, are all advanced to the higher value, when
you know that you have also Christ in your hearts ;
and that all these are but the attendants of your
Lord, and the fruits that drop from the tree of life,
and the tokens of his love, importing greater things
to follow. Whereas, in the crowd of all those
mercies, the soul would be uncomfortable, or worse,
if it missed the presence of its dearest friend : and
in the midst of all, would live but as in a wilderness,
and go seeking after Christ with tears, as Mary at his
sepulchre, because they had "taken away her Lord,
and she knew not where they had laid him." All
mercies would be bitter to us, if the presence of
Christ do not put into them that special sweetness
which is above the estimate of sense.

9. This assurance would do much to preserve you
from the temptation of sensu;il delight. While you
had within you the matter of more excellent con-
tentment, and when you find that these inferior
pleasures are enemies to those which are your hap-
piness and life, you would not be easily taken with
the bait. The poorest brutish pleasures are made
much of by them that never were acquainted with
any better. But after the sweetness of assurance
of the love of God, how little relish is there to be

293

found in the pleasures that are so valued by sensual
unbelievers ! Let them take them for rae, saith
the believing soul ; may I but still have the comforts
'ot the presence of my Lord, how little shall I miss
them ! How easily can I spare them ! Silver will
be cast by, if it be set in competition with gold.
The company of common acquaintance may be ac-
ceptable, till better and greater come; and then
they must give place. Men that are taken up with
the pleasing entertainment of Christ within them,
can scarcely aflPord any more than a transient saluta-
tion or observance to those earthly things that are
the felicity of the carnal mind, and take up its de-
sires, endeavours, and delight; when the soul is
tempted to turn from Christ, to those deceiving
vanities that promise him more content and plea-
sure, the comfortable thoughts of the love of Christ,
and his abode within us, and our abode vvith him,
do sensibly scatter and confound such temptations.
The presence of Christ, the great reconciler, doth
reconcile us to ourselves, and make us willing to be
more at home. He that is out of love with the
company that he hath at home, is easily drawn to
go abroad. But who can endure to be much abroad,
that knoweth of such a guest as Christ at home?
We shall say as Peter, " Lord, to whom shall we
go ? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we
believe, and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God." And as when he saw him
in a little of his glory, " Master, it is good for us to
be here." And if the riches of the world were
offered to draw a soul from Christ, that hath the
knowledge of his special love and presence, the

294

tempter would have no better entertainment than
Simon Magus had with Peter, Their money perish
with them, that think Christ and his graces to be
no better than money.

10. How easy and sweet would all God's service
be to you, if you were assured tliat Clirist abideth
in you ! Wliat delightful access might you have
in prayer, when you know tliat Clirist himself speaks
for you ! Not as if the Father himself were un-
willing to do us good, but that he will do it in the
name, and for the sake and merits of his Son : which
is the meaning of Christ in those words, which seem
to deny his intercession, " At that day ye shall ask
in my name : and I say not unto you, that 1 will
.pray the Father for you; for the Father himself
loveth you, because ye have loved me." I appeal
to your own hearts, Cliristians, whether you would
not be much more willing and ready to pray, and
whether prayer would not be a sweeter employment
to you, if you were sure of Christ's abode within
you, and intercession for you, and, consequently, that
all your prayers are graciously accepted of the
Lord ? You would not then desire the vain society
of empty persons ; nor seek for recreation in their
insipid, frothy, insignificant discourse. The open-
ing of your heart to your heavenly Father, and
pleading the merits of his Son, in your believing
petitions for his saving benefits, would be a more
contenting kind of pleasure to you.

How sweet would meditation be to you, if you
could still think on Christ, and all the riches of his
kingdom, as your own ! Could you look up to
heaven, and say, with grounded confidence, ' It is

295

mine, and there I must abide and reign for ever !'
Could you think of the heavenly host, as those that
must be your own companions, and of their holy
employment as that which must be your own for
ever, it would make the assent of your minds to be
more frequent, and meditation to be a more pleasant
work. Were you but assured of your special in-
terest in God, and that all his attributes are, by his
love and covenant, engaged for your happiness, ex-
perience would make you say, " In the multitude
of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight
my soul." " I will sing unto the Lord as long as
I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have
my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet; I
will be glad in the Lord." Could you say, with
full assurance, that you are the children of the pro-
mises, and that they are all your own ; how sweet
would the reading and meditation on the Holy
Scriptures be to you ! How dearly would you love
the word ! What a treasure would you judge it!
" Your delight would be then in the law of the
Lord, and you would meditate in it day and night."
To find such grounds of faith, and hope, and riches
of consolation in every page, and assuredly to say,
' All this is mine,' would make you better under-
stand why David did indite all the cxix. Psalm, in
high commendations of the word of God, and would
make you join in his affectionate expressions, " O
how love 1 thy law I it is my meditation all the
day. Thou, through thy commandments, hast
made me wiser than mine enemies : for they are
ever with me."

Sermons, also, would be much sweeter to you,

296

when you could confidently take home tlic consoia-
tary part, and use our ministry as a help to your
faith, and hope, and joy ; whereas your doubts and
fears, lest you are still unre<renerate, will turn all
that you hear, or read, or meditate on, into food and
fuel for themselves to work upon ; and you will
gather up all that tends to your disquietude, and
say, It is your part ; and cast away all that tendetli
to your consolation, and say. It belongeth not to
you. And the most comforting passages of the
word will be turned into your discomfort: and the
promises will seem to you as none, while you ima-
gine that they are none of yours : and the loss of
your peace and comfort will not be the worst : but
this will increase your backwardness to duty; and
when your delight in the worship of God is gone,
your inclination to it vvill abate, and it will seem a
burden to you.

The same I may say of the sacrament of the
Lord's Supper. How sweet will it be to you, if
you are assured, that the same Christ that is there
represented as broken and bleeding for your sins,
doth dwell within you by his Spirit ! What welcome
entertainment would you expect to find, if you knew
that you brought the feast, and the Master of the
feast, with you, in your hearts ; and had there en-
tirely entertained him, with whom you expect com-
munion in the sacrament ! How boldly and com-
fortably would your hungry souls then feed upon
him ! With what refresliing acts of faith would
you there take the sealed promise and pardon of
your sins ! Whereas, when you come in fears and
doubting, and must take the body and blood of

S97

Christ, in their representations, with your hand and
mouth, while you know not whether you receive
him with the heart, and whether you have any spe-
cial interest in him, O what a damp it casteth on
the soul ! How it stifleth its hopes and joys, and
turneth the sacrament, which is appointed for their
comfort, into their greater trouble ! It hath many
a time grieved me to observe, that no ordinance doth
cast many upright souls into greater perplexities,
and discouragements, and distresses, than the Lord's
Supper ; because they come to it with double reve-
rence, and by the doubtings of their title, and ques-
tioning their preparedness, and by their fears of eat-
ing and drinking unworthily, their souls are utterly
discomposed with perplexing passions, and turned
from the pleasant exercise of faith, and the delight-
ful intercourse that they should have with God ;
and they are distempered, and put out of relish to
all the sweetness of the gospel : and then they are
frightened from the sacrament by such sad ex-
periences, and dare come thither no more, for fear
of eating judgment to themselves. And should not
Christians labour to remove the cause of such mis-
erable, distracting fears, that so much wrong both
Christ and them, and to recover their well-croundcd
peace and comfort?

11. Your love to God, which is the heart and
life of the new creature, doth so much depend upon
your knowledge of his love to you, as should make
you much more desirous of such a knowledge. Love
is the end of faith ; and faith the way to love. So
much of love as is in every duty, so much holiness is
in it, and no more. Love is the sum of the com-
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298

mandments. It is the fulfillinji of the law, Tlioush
God loved us first, as purposing our good, before
we loved him : and we, therefore, " love him, be-
cause he first loved us," yet doth he love us by
complacency and acceptance, because we love the
Father and the Son : " For the Father himself
loved you, because ye loved me, and have believed
that I came out from God." And what will more
effectually kindle in you the fervent love of Christ,
than to know that he lovcth you, and dvvelleth in
you? All this is expressed by Christ himself:
" At that day ye shall know that I am in my Fa-
ther, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath
my commandments, and kcepeth them, he it is that
lovcth me ; and he that loveth me shall be loved of
my Fatlier, and I will love him, and will manifest
myself to him. — If a man love me, he will keep
my words : and my Father will love him, and we will
come unto him, and make our abode with him."
" If any man love God, the same is known of him,"
with a knowledge of special love and approbation.
This is no disparagement to faith, whose nature and
use is to work by love. What a man loveth, such
he is. The love is the man. Our love is judged
by our life, as the cause by the effect: but the life
is judged by the love, ns the fiuits by tlie tree, the
effects of the cause. If Plato could say, " To be a
philosopher, is to love God," much more should we
say, ' This is the doctrine and work of a Christian,
even the love of God.' Indeed it is the work of
the lledccmer to recover the heart of man to God,
and to bring us to love him, by representing him to
us as the most amiable, suitable object of our love :

299

and the perfection of love is heaven itself. " The
yoke of holy love, Oliowsueetly dost thou surprise!
How gloriously dost thou enthral ! How pleasantly
dost thou press ! How delightfully dost thou load !
How strongly dost thou bind ! How prudently
dost thou instruct ! — O happy love, from vvhich
ariseth the strength of manners, the purity of affec-
tions, the sublilety of intellects, the sanctity of de-
sires, the excellency of works, the fruitl'ulness of
virtues, the dignity of deserts, the sublimity of the
reward," — Bernard. 1 appeal to your own con-
sciences, Chriblians, would you not think it a fore-
taste of heaven upon earth, if you could but love
God as much as you desire? Would any kind of
life that you can imagine, be so desirable and de-
lightful to you ? Would any thing be more accep-
table unto God ? And, on the contrary, a soul
without the love of God, is worse than a corpse
without a soul. " If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Chribt, let him be Anathema, Maran-atha."

And do I need to tell you, what a powerful in-
centive it is to love, to know that you arc beloved ?
It will make Christ much more dear to you, to know
how dear you are to him. What is said of affective
love in us, may partly be said of attractive love in
Christ. " Many waters cannot quench love, neither
can the floods drown it :" no riches can purchase
what it can attract. When you find that he hath
set you " as a seal upon his arm and heart," and
that you arc dear to him as the "apple of his eye,"
what holy flames will this kindle in your breast ! If
it be almost impossible, with your equals upon earth,
not to love them that love you, (which Christ tellcth

300

you that even publicans will do,) how much more
should the love of Christ constrain us abundantly to
love him, when, being infinitely above us, his love
desccndcth, that ours may ascend I His love puts
forth the hand from heaven to fetch us up.

O Christians, you little know how Satan wrong-
cth you, by drawing you to deny, or doubt of the
special love of God ! How can you love him that
you apprehend to be your enemy, and to intend your
ruin .'' Doubtless, not so easily as if you know him
to be your friend. In reason, is there any more
likely way to draw you to hate God, than to draw
you to believe that he hateth you ? Can your
thoughts bo pleasant of him, or your speeches of
him sweet f or can you attend him, or draw near him
with delight, while you think he hateth you, and
hath decreed your damnation You may fear him,
as he is a terrible avenger ; and you may confess Ins
judgments to be just: but can you amicably embrace
the consuming fire, and love to dwell with the ever-
lasting burnings ?

O, therefore, as ever you would have the love of
God to animate, and sanctify, and delight your souls,
study the greatness of his love to you, and labour,
with all possible speed and diligence, to find that
Christ, by his Spirit, is within you. It is the whole
work of sanctification that Satan would destroy or
weaken by your doubts : and it is the whole work of
sanctification, that by love would be promoted, if you
knew your interest in the love of Christ.

12. It is the knowledge of (Christ dwelling in
you, and so of the special love of God, that must
acquaint you with a life of holy thankfulness and

301

praise. These highest and most acceptable du-
ties, will be out of your reach, if Satan can hide
from you that mercy which must be the chiefest mat-
ter of your thanksgiving. Will that soul be in tune
for the high praises of the Lord, that thinks he
meaneth to treat him as an enemy ? Can you look
for any cheerful thanksgiving from him that looks to
lie in hell ? Will he not rather cr^y, with David,
"In death there is no remembrance of thee: in the
grave who shall give thee thanks?" " What profit
is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy
truth ?" Shall the damned praise thee, or shall they
give thee thanks that must be scorched with the
flames of thine indignation ? Can you expect that
joy should be in their hearts, or cheerfulness in their
countenances, or praises in their mouths, that think
they are reprobated ? Undoubtedly Satan is not
ignorant, that this is the way to deprive God of the
service which is most acceptable to him, and you of
the pleasures of so sweet a life. And, therefore, he
that envieth both, will do his worst to damp your
spirits, and breed uncomfortable doubts and fears,
and wrongful suspicions in your minds. Whereas,
the knowledge of your interest in Christ, would be
a continual store-house of thanksgiving and praise,
and teach your hearts as well as your tongues to say,
with David, " Blessed is the man whose transgres-
sion is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and
in whose spirit there is no guile. — Be glad in the
Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous : and shout for joy all
ye that are upright in heart." *' Bless the Lord,

302

C) my soul, ami forget not all his benefits : wliofor-
giveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy dis-
eases ; who redccincth thy life from destruction ;
who crowneth thee with lovirg-kindness and tender
mercies." " O Lord my God, I cried unto thee,
and thou hast healed mc. O Lord, thou hast brought
up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept mo alive,
lliat I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto
the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the
remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endurelh
but a moment ; in his favour is life." Thanks-
giving would be the very pulse and breath of your
assurance of Christ dwelling in you. You would
say, with Paul, " Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Clirist, who. hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in celestials in Christ. Accord-
ing as he hath chosen us in him before the founda-
tion of the world, that wc should be holy and blame-
less before him in love. Having predestinated us
to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to him-
self, according to the good pleasure of his will, to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath
made us accepted in the Beloved : in whom we have
redemption through his blood, the remission of sins,
according to the riches of his grace ; wherein he hath
abounded toward us." Thus faith and assurance, as
they have an unspeakable store to work upon,' so it
is natural to them to expatiate in the praise of our
Redeemer, and to delight in amplifications and com-
memorations of the ways of grace. Just so doth
Peter begin his first epistle, " Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, accord-
ing to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again

303

unto a lively liope, by the resurrection of Jesus
Clirist from the dead, to an inheritance incorrupti-
ble, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you, wlio are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in
the last time : wherein ye greatly rejoice," &c.

No wonder if the heirs of heaven be inclined to
the language and the work of heaven. I think there
are few of you that would not rejoice, and by your
speech and countenance express your joy, if you had
assurance but of the dignities and dominions of this
Vvorld. And can he choose but express his joy and
tliankfulness, that hath assurance of the crown of
life? What fragrant thoughts should possess that
mind that knoweth itself to be possessed hy the Spi-
rit of the living God ! How thankful will he be,
that knows he hath Christ and heaven to be thank-
ful for ! What sweet delights should fill up the
hours of that man's life, that knows the Son of God
living in him, and that he shall live in joy with
Christ for ever ! How gladly will he be exercised
in the praises of his Creator, Redeemer, and Sancti-
fier, that knows it must be his work for ever ! No
wonder if this joy be a stranger to their hearts, that
are strangers to Christ, or strangers to their interest
in his love. No wonder if they have no hearts for
these celestial works, that have no part in the celes-
tial inheritance, or that know not that they have any
part therein.

But to that man that is assured of Christ within
him, heaven and earth, and all their store, do offer
themselves as the matter of his thanks, and do fur-
nish him with provisions to feed his praises. What

304

a shame is it, that an assured lieir of heaven should
be scant and barren in comfort to himself, or in
thanks and praise to Jesus Chiist, when he liatli so
much h)ve and mercy to fetch his motives from, and
hath two worlds to furnish liim with the most pre-
cious materials ; and hatli no less than Infinite Good-
ness, even God himself, to be the subject of his
praise ! " () give thanks unto the Lord; for he is
ffood : because his mercy cndureth for ever. Let
Lsrael say, let the house of Aaron say, let them that
fear the Lord say, that his mercy cndureth for ever."
The knowledge of our interest fitteth us for his
praise. " Thou art my God, and I will praise thee;
thou art my God, I will exalt thee." " O Lord,
truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the
son of thine handmaid : thou hast loosed my bonds.
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and
will call upon the name of the Lord." "His praise
is for the congregation of his saints. Let Israel re-
joice in him that made him : let the children of Zion
be joyful in their King." " Let them praise the name
of the Lord : for his name alone is excellent ; his glory
is above the earth and heaven. He also exalteth the
horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even
of the children of Israel, a people near unto him."
" I will also clothe his priests with salvation, and his
saints shall shout aloud for joy." Praise is a work
so proper for the saints, and thanksgiving must be
fed with the knowledge of your mercies, that Satan
well knoweth what he shall get by it, and what you
will lose, if he can but hide your mercies from you.
The height of his malice is against the Lord, and
the next is against you : and how can he show it

305

more than by drawing you to rob God of his thanks
and praise, when he hath blessed and enriched you
with the chiefest of his mercies ! Labour, there-
fore, Christians, to know that you have that grace
that may be the matter and cause oF so sweet and
acceptable an employment as the praises of your
Lord.

13. jNIoreover, you should consider, that, without
the knowledge of your interest in Christ, you can-
not live to the honour of your Redeemer, in such a
measure as the gospel doth require. The excel-
lency of gospel- mercies will be veiled and obscured
by you, and will not be revealed and honoured by
your lives. Your low and poor dejected spirits will
be a dishonour to the faith and hope of the saints,
and to the glorious inheritance, of which you have
so full a prospect in the promises. The heirs of
heaven, that know not themselves to be such, may
live like the heirs of heaven as to uprightness and
humility, but not in the triumphant jdv, nor in the
courageous boldness, which bccomcth a believer.
What an injury and dishonour is it to our Redeemer,
that when he hath done and suffered so much to
make us happy, we should walk as heavily as if he
had done nothing for us at all ! And when he hath
so fully secured us of everlasting happiness, and told
us of it so expiessly, that our joy may be full, we
should live as if the gospel were not the gospel, and
such things had never been promised or revealed !
When heaven is the object, and the promise of God
is the groundwork of our faith, we should live above
all earthly things, as having the honours and plea-
sures of the world under our feet, accounting all as

306

"loss and dung for tlie excellency of the knowledge
of Jesus Christ," whom we should love, though " we
have not seen him ; in whom, though now we
see him not, yet believing, we should rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory, as those that
must receive the end of their faith, the salvation
of our souls." And how can we do this, if we
are still questioning the love of Christ, or our inte-
rest in it !

Believers should, with undaunted resolution,
charge through the armies of temptation, and con-
quer difficulties, and suffer for the name of Christ
with joy ; accounting it a blessed thing to be perse-
cuted for righteousness' sake, because " theirs is the
kingdom of heaven." Because of the greatness of
the reward, they should " rejoice and be exceeding
glad." And how can they do this, that believe not
that the reward and kingdom will be theirs !

The joys of faith and confidence on the promise
and strength of Christ, should overcome all inordi-
nate fears of man : " For he halh said, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee. So that we may bold-
ly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear
what man shall do unto me." And how can we do
this, while we are questioning our part in Christ,
and the promise that we should thus boldly trust
upon ?

14. Lastly, consider, that the knowledge of your
part in Christ, may make all sufferings easy to you.
You will be so much satisfied in God your portion,
as will abate the desires, and drown the joys and
sorrows of the world. You will judge the "suffer-
ings of this present time unworthy to be compared to

307

the glory that shall be revealed in us." You will
choose rather " to suffer affliction with the people of
God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ;
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than
the treasures of the world, as having respect to the
recompense of the reward." All this must be done,
and will be done by true believers, that have an assur-
ance of their own sincerity; they must and will for-
sake all, and take up the cross and follow Christ, in
hope of a reward in heaven, as it is offered them in
the gospel, when they know their special interest in
it. For these are Christ's terms, which he imposeth
on all that will be his disciples. But you may cer-
tainly perceive, that it will be much more easy to
part with all, and undergo and do all this, when we
have the great encouragement of our assured interest,
than when we have no more but the common offer.
To instance in some particulars.

I. Do you live where serious godliness is derided,
and you cannot obey the word of God, and seek first
the kingdom of God, and its righteousness, without
being made the common scorn, and the daily jest and
by-word of the company? Let it be so: if you
know that you have Christ within you, and are se-
cured of the everlasting joys, will you feel, will you
regard such things as these ? Shall the jest of a
distracted, miserable fool, abate the joy of your
assured happiness ? Princes and noblemen will not
forsake their dominions or lordships, nor cast away
the esteem and comfort of all they have, because the
poor do ordinarily reproach them as proud, unmer-
ciful oppressors. They think they may bear the
words of the miserable, while they have the pleasure

308

of prosperity. And shall not we give losers leave
to talk ? We will not be mocked out of the com-
fort of our health or wealth, our habitations or our
friends : and shall we be mocked out of the comfort
of Christ, and of the presence of the Comforter him-
self? If they that are sick deride you for being
well, this will but make you more sensible of your
felicity, and pity them that have added such folly to
their wants : so will it increase the sense of your
felicity, to find that you are [lossessed of so unspeak-
able a mercy, which others have not so far tasted of
as to know its worth. If you are in your Father's
arms, you may bear the scorns of such as stand with-
out the doors.

2. If you have the contradictions and opposition
of the ignorant or malicious, speaking evil of things
they know not, and persuading you from the ways of
righteousness, how easily may all this be borne while
you have Christ within you to strengthen and en-
courage you ! Had you but his exam])le before
you, who is " the Author and Finisher of your faith ;
who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the
cross, despising the shame, and endured such contra-
diction of sinners against himself, it should keep you
from being weary and fainting in your minds." But
when you have his presence, his Spirit, and his
help, how much should it corroborate and confirm
you !

3. How easy may you bear the slanders of your
own or the gospel's enemies, as long as you are sure
of your interest in Christ ! How easily may you
suffer them to call you by their own names, " pesti-
lent fellows, and movers of sedition among the

309

people, ringleaders of a sect, profaners of tlie temple,"
as Paul was called, as long as you liave Christ within
you, that was called Beelzebub for your sakes.
Your Judge, that must finally decide the case, is
your dearest friend, and dwelleth in you. It is
" He that will justify you ; who is he that condemn-
eth you?" His approbation is your life and com-
fort. How inconsiderable is it as to your own feli-
city, what mortal worms shall say or think of you ?
What if they call you all that is naught, and stain
your names, and obscure your innocency, and make
others believe the falsest accusations that Satan can
use their tongues to utter of you ? You have enough
against all this within yon. What if you go for
hypocrites, or what malignity can call you, until the
day of judgment ? As long as you have so good
security of being tlicn fully cleared of all, and your
righteousness vindicated by your Judge, how easily
may you now bear the slanders of men, that prove
themselves wicked, by falsely affirming it of you !
Y'^ou may well endure to be called proud, while you
are humble ; and factious, while you are lovers of
unity and peace ; or hypocrites, while you are sin-
cere. How boldly may you say, with the prophet,
" The Lord (iod will help me ; therefore shall I not
be confounded : therefore have I set my face like a
flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He
is near that justifieth me ; who will contend with me?
let us stand together: who is mine adversary?
let him come near to me. Behold the Lord God
will help me; who is he that shall condemn me?
Lo, they shall all wax old as a garment ; the moth
shall eat them up."

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Had you but Paul's assurance and experience of
Christ dwelling in you, you might imitate him in
a holy contempt of all the slanders and revilings of
the world: " For I think that God hath set forth
us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death :
for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and
to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's
sake, but ye are wise in Christ : we are weak, but
ye are strong : ye are honourable, but we are de-
spised. Even unto this present hour, we both hunger,
and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and
have no certain dwelling-place; and labour, working
with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being
persecuted, we suffer it ; being defamed, we entreat :
we are made as the filth of the world, and are the
ofFscouring of all things unto this day." Thus
may we " do and suffer all things through Christ
that strengtheneth us." What matter is it what
men call us, if God call us his children and friends,
and Christ be not ashamed to call us brethren ?
With us it will be a very small thing to be judged
of man, while we know " the Lord that must judge
us, is on our side." It lieth not on our hands to
justify ourselves : it is Christ that hath undertaken
to answer for us ; and made it the work of his office
to justify us; and to him we may boldly and com-
fortably leave it: and let all the accusers prepare
their charge, and deal with him, and do their worst.

4. How easily may you bear imprisonment, ban-
ishment, or other persecution, as long as you are
assured of the love of Christ ! Can you fear to
dwell where Christ dwells with you? If he will
go with you through fire and water, what need you

311

fear? Those owning, appropriating words, will
make us venture upon the greatest perils, " Fear
not : for 1 have redeemed thee, I have called thee
by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee : when thou
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt :
— For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of
Israel, thy Saviour." Who would not, with Peter,
cast himself into the sea, or walk with confidence
upon the waters, if Christ be there, and call us to
him ?

The eleventh chapter to the Hebrews doth reca-
pitulate the victories of faith, and show us what the
hope of unseen things can cause believers patiently
to undergo. How cheerfully will he endure the
foulest way, that is assured to come safe to such a
home? What will a man stick at, that knows he
is following Christ to heaven ; and knoweth that he
" shall reign with him, when he hath suffered with
him ?" He is unworthy of Christ, and of salva-
tion, that thinks any thing in the world too good to
lose for them. What matter is it, whether death
finds us in honour or dishonour, in our own country
or in another, at liberty or in prison, so we arc sure
it finds us not in a state of death ? Who would
not rather pass to glory by as straight a way as
John the Baptist, Stephen, or other martyrs did,
than with their persecutors, to prosper in the way to
misery ? Who can, for shame, repine at the loss
of temporal commodities, that is secured of the eter-
nal joys? If assurance of the love of God, would
not embolden you to patient suffering, and to lay

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down life aiul all for Christ, what do you think
should ever do it?

But wlicii you are afraid lest death will turn you
into hell, what wonder if you timorously draw baek?
When you know not whether ever you shall have
any better, no wonder if you are loath to part with
the seeming happiness which you have. Those
doubts and fears enfeeble the soul, and spoil you of
that valour that becomes a soldier of Christ.

5. All personal crosses in your estates, your fa-
milies, your friends, your health, will be easily
borne, if you are once assured of your salvation.
To a man that is passing into heaven, all these are
most inconsiderable things. What is Lazarus the
worse now for his sores or Tags? Or what is the
rich man the better for his sumptuous attire and
fare ? Whether you be poor or rich, sick or sound ;
whether you are used kindly or unkindly in the
world, are questions of so small importance, that
you are not much concerned in the answer of them:
but whetlier you have Christ within you, or be re-
probates; whether you are the heirs of the promise,
or are under the curse, are questions of everlasting
consequence.

6. Lastly, You may comfortably receive the sen-
tence of death, when once you are assured ot" the
life of grace, and that you have escaped everlasting
death. Tliough nature will be still averse to a dis-
solution, yet faith will make you cheerfully submit,
"desiring to depart and be with Christ," as the best
condition for you. When you " know that if the
earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, you
have a building of God, an house not made with

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hands, eternal in the heavens^" you will then *'groan,
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with your
house, which is from heaven : not to be unclothed,
but to be clothed upon, that mortality might be
swallowed up of life. This God doth work you for,
who giveth you the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore,
as men that know, while you are at home in the
body, you are absent from the Lord; and that walk
by faith, and not by sight, you would be always con-
fident, and willing rather to be absent from the body,
and present with the Lord."

Though it be troublesome to remove your dwell-
ing, yet you would not stick upon the trouble, if you
were sure to change a cottage for a court : nor
would you refuse to cross the seas, to change a
prison for a kingdom. The holy desires of believers,
do prepare them for a safe death ; but it is the as-
surance of their future happiness, or the believing
expectation of it, that must prepare them for a death
that is safe and comfortable. The death of the pre-
sumptuous may be quiet, but not safe : the death of
doubting, troubled believers may be safe, but not
quiet : the death of the ungodly, that have awakened,
undeceived countenances, is neither safe nor quiet :
but the death of strong believers, that have attained
assurance, is both. And he that findeth Christ
within him, may know, that when he dieth, he shall
be with Christ: his dwelling in us by faith, by love,
and by his Spirit, is a pledge that we shall dwell
with him. Clirist within us, will certainly carry us
unto Christ above us. . Let Socinians question the
happiness of such departed souls, or doubt whether
they be in heaven before the resurrection ; I am
O 45

314

sure that they are with Christ, as the forecited places
show, (2 Cor. V. 7, 8. PhiHp. i. 23.) and many
other. We are following him, that when he had
conquered death, and went before us, did send that
message to his doubting, troubled disciples, (which is
to me so full of sweetness, that methinks I can scarcely
too often recite it,) " Go to my brethren, and say
unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Fa-
ther, and to my God and your God." O piercing,
melting words, which methinks do write themselves
upon my heart, whenever I read them with attention
and consideration 1 Know once that you are his
brethren, and that his Father is your Father, and
his God is your God, and that he is ascended and
glorified in your nature; and then how can you be
unwilling to be dismissed from the bondase of this
flesh, and be with Christ ! For in his " Father's
house are many mansions 1 and he is gone before to
prepare a place for us ; and will come again and re-
ceive us unto himself, that where he is, there we
may be also." And that this is his will for all his
servants, he hath declared in that comfortable pro-
mise, (which also I have found so full of sweetness,
that I value it above all the riches of the world,)
" If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where
I am, there shall also my servant be : if any man
will serve me, him will ray Father honour." The
Spirit of Christ within you, is the earnest of all this.
Be assured of your faith, and hope, and love, and
you may be assured to possess the good believed,
and hoped for, and loved. " The incorruptible seed,
which livcth and abideth for ever," of which you are
newborn, doth tend to the "incorruptible crown,

315

even the crown of righteousness, which the righteous
Judge will give to all that love his appearing."
" And so shall we ever be with the Lord," as the
Apostle comfortably speaks, and seasonably annexeth
the use of such a cordial, " Wherefore comfort one
another with these words."

Whether we are to die by the decay of nature,
or by the storm of any violent disease, or by the
hand of persecutors, or any other instruments of
Satan, the difference is small; they are but several
ways of landing at the shore of happiness, which we
were making towards, through all the duties and
difficulties of our lives. May I die assured of the
love of God, how little regardable is it, whether I
be poor or rich till then ; or in what manner death
shall do its execution? And how little cause have
blessed souls to envy them that are left on earth, in
a quiet and prosperous passage to damnation !

And what an ease and pleasure is this to a man's
mind through all his life, to be able, with well-
grounded comfort, to think of death ! What cares
can vex him that hath secured his everlasting state?
What losses should afflict him that is sure he shall
not lose his soul, and is sure to gain eternal life?
What fears should disquiet him that is sure to
escape the wrath of God ? W^hat wants should
trouble him that knoweth he is an heir of heaven ?
Why should the indignation or threatenings of man,
be any temptation to turn him out of the way of
duty, or dismay his mind, who knoweth that they
can but " kill the body," and dismiss the soul into
his blessed presence, whom it loveth, and labourcth
and longs to see? What should inordinately grieve
o 2

316

that man that is certain of eternal joy ? What else
should he thirst for, that hath " in him the well
of living waters, springing up to everlasting life?"
And what should deprive that man of comfort, that
knowetli he hath the Comforter within him, and
shall be for ever comforted with his Master's joy?
And what should break the peace and patience of
him that is assured of everlasting rest? If the as-
surance of a happy death cannot make it welcome,
and cannot make affliction easy, and fill our lives
with the joys of hope, I know not what can do it.

But, alas for those poor souls that know not
whither death will send them, or, at least, have not
good grounds of hope ! what wonder if, " through
the fear of death, they be all their lifetime subject
to bondage?" Methinks, in the midst of their
wealth and pleasure, they should not be so stupid
as to forget the millions that are gone before them,
that lately were as jovial and secure as they ; and
how short their dreaming feast will be. Methinks
at any time it should damp their mirth, and allay
the ebullition of their frenetic blood, to remember,
' For all this I must die,' and it may be " this
night, that the fool must deliver up his soul; and
then, whose shall those things be which he hath
provided?" Then who shall be the lord, and who
the knight or gentleman ? Methinks, Solomon's
memento should bring them to themselves. " Re-
joice, O young man, in thy youth ; and let thy
heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk
in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine
eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God
will bring thee into judgment." And as the sound

317

of these words, ' 1 must shortly die,' methinks
should be always in your ears; so in reason, the
question, 'Whither I must then go?' should be
always, as it were, before your eyes, till your souls
have received a satisfactory answer to it. O what
an amazing dreadful thing it is, when an unsancti-
fied, unprepared soul must say, ' I must depart
from earth, but I know not whither ! I know not
whether unto heaven or hell; here I am now, but
where must I be for ever ?' When men believe
that their next habitation must be everlasting, me-
thinks the question, ' Whither must I go?' should
be day and night upon their minds, till they can say,
upon good grounds, ' I shall go to the blessed pre-
sence of the Lord.' O had you but the hearts of
men within you, methinks the sense of this one
question, ' Whither must I go when I leave the
flesh?' should so possess you, that it should give
your souls no rest till you are able to say, ' We
shall be with Christ, because he dwelleth in us
here, and hath sealed us, and given us the earnest
of his Spirit ;' or at least, till you have good hopes
of this, and have done your best to make it sure.

And thus I have told you of how great impor-
tance it is to believers, to attain assurance of the
love of God, and to know that Christ abideth in
them. And now I think you will confess, I have
proved the necessity of self-knowledge, both to the
unregenerate and the regenerate, though in several
degrees: and having opened the disease, and showed
you the need of a remedy, I am next to direct you
in the application for the cure.

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CHAPTER X.
External Hinderances of Self-Acquaintance.

I DOUBT not but there are many that, by this
time, are desirous to be instructed, how this self-
knowledge may be attained : for whose satisfaction,
and for the reducing of all that hath been spoken
into practice, I shall next acquaint you with the
hinderances of self-knowledge (the removing of them
being not the least point in the cure), and with the
positive directions to be practised for the attainment
of it. And because the hinderances and helps are
contrary, I shall open both together as we go on.

The hinderances of self-knowledge are some of
them without us, and some within us; and so must
be the helps.

I. The external hinderances are these.

]. The failing of ministers in their part of the
work, through unskilfulness or unfaithfulness, is a
great cause that so many are ignorant of themselves.
They are the lights of the world; and if they are
eclipsed, or put under a bushel; if they are darkened
by the snufF of their own corruptions; or if they
feed not their light by the oil of diligent studies,
and other endeavours; or if they will not go along
with men into the dark and unknown corners of
the heart, what wonder if men's hearts remain in
darkness, when those that, by office, are appointed
to afford them light, do fail them? It is not a
general dull discourse, or critical observations upon

319

words, or the subtle decision of some nice and
curious questions of tlie schools, nor is it a neat and
well-composed speech, about some other distant
matters, that is likely to acquaint a sinner with him-
self. How many sermons may we hear, tliat are
levelled at some mark or other, that is very far from
the hearers' hearts, and, therefore,'are never likely
to convince them, or open and convert them ? And
if our congregations were in such a case, as that
they needed no closer quickening work, such preach-
ing might be borne with and commended; but when
so many usually sit before us, that must shortly die,
and are unprepared, and that are condemned by the
law of God, and must be pardoned or finally con-
demned; that must be saved from their sins, that
they may be saved from everlasting misery, I think
it is time for us to talk to them of such things as
most concern them ; and that in such a manner as
may most effectually convince, awaken, and change
them. When we come to them on their sick-beds,
we talk not then to them of distant or impertinent
things, but of the state of their souls, and their ap-
pearing before the Lord, and how they may be
ready, that death may be both safe and comfortable
to them: (though a superstitious miserable fellow,
that knowetii no better things himself, may talk to
the sick of beads, and relics, and of being on this
side or that, for this ceremony or the otiier, and
may think to conjure the unholy spirit out of him,
by some affected words of devotions, uttered from a
graceless, senseless heart; or to command him out
by papal authority, as if they would charm his soul
to heaven, by saying over some lifeless forms, and

320

using the gospel as a spell; yet ministers indeed,
that know themselves what faith and what repentance
is, and what it is to be regenerate, and to be pre-
pared to die, do know that they have other work to
do.) The gospel offereth men their choice, whether
they will have holiness or sin ; and to be ruled by
Christ, or by their fleshly lusts; and so whether
they will have spiritual or carnal, eternal, or tran-
sitory joys. And our work is to persuade them to
make that choice which will be their happiness, and
which eternal joy depends upon; whether we come
to them in sickness or in health, this is our business
with them. A man that is ready to be drowned,
is not at leisure for a song or dance : and a man
that is ready to be damned, roethinks should not
find himself at leisure to hear a man show his wit
and reading only, if not his folly and malice against
a life of holiness: nor should you think that suitable
to such men's case, that doth not evidently tend to
save them. But, alas, how often have we heard
such sermons, as tend more to diversion than direc-
tion, to fill their minds with other matters, and find
men something else to think on, lest they should
study themselves, and know their misery ! A
preacher that seems to speak religiously, by a sapless,
dry discourse, that is called a sermon, may more
plausibly and easily divert him : and his conscience
will more quietly suffer him to be taken off the ne-
cessary care of his salvation, by something that is
like it, and pretends to do the work as well, than by
the grosser avocations, or the scorns of fools: and
he will more tamely be turned from religion, by
something that is called religioUj and which he hopes

321

may serve the turn, than by open wickedness, or
impious defiance of God and reason. But how oft
do we hear applauded sermons, which force us, in
compassion to men's souls, to think, O what is all
this to the opening a sinner's heart unto himself, and
showing him his unregenerate state ! What is this
to the conviction of a self-deluding soul, that is
passing unto hell with the confident expectations of
heaven ! To the opening of men's eyes, and turning
them from darkness unto light, and from the power
of Satan unto God ! What is this to show men
their undone condition, and the absolute necessity of
Christ, and of renewing grace ! What is in this
to lead men up from earth to heaven, and to acquaint
them with the unseen world, and to help them to
the life of faith and love, and to the mortifying and
the pardon of their sins ! How little skill have
many miserable preachers, in the searching of the
heart, and helping men to know themselves, whether
Christ be in them, or whether they be reprobates !
And how little care and diligence are used by them
to call men to the trial, and help them in the examin-
ing and judging of themselves, as if it were a work
of no necessity ! " They have healed also the hurt
of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace,
peace; when there is no peace, saith the Lord."
" Because, even because they have seduced my
people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and
one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with
untempered mortar: say unto them which daub it with
untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be
an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones,
shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo,
o 3

322

when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you,
Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed
it?"

It is a plain and terrible passage, *' He that saith
to the wicked, Thou art righteous ; him shall the
people curse; nations shall abhor him." Such in-
justice in a judge, or witnesses, is odious, that de-
termine but in order to temporal rewards or punish-
ments. But in a messenger that professeth to
speak to men in the name of God, and in the stead
of Jesus Christ, when the determination hath respect
to tlje consciences of men, and to their endless joy
or torment, how odious and horrid a crime must it
be esteemed, to persuade the wicked that he is
righteous; or to speak that, which tendeth to per-
suade him of it, though not in open, plain expres-
sions ! What perfidious dealing is this against the
Holy God ! What an abuse of our Redeemer,
that his pretended messengers shall make him seem
to judge clean contrary to his holiness, and to his
law, and to the judgment which indeed he passeth,
and will pass, on all that live and die unsanctified !
What vile deceit and cruelty against the souls of
men are such preachers guilty of, that would make
them believe that all is well with them, or that their
state is safe or tolerable, till they must find it other-
wise to their woe ! Wiiat shame, what punishment
can be too great for such a wretch, when the neglect
and making light of Christ and his salvation, is the
common road to hell ? And most men perish, be-
cause they value not, and use not, the necessary
means of their recovery; for a man, in the name of
a ■minister of the gospel, to cheat them into such

323

uudervaluings and neglects, as are likely to prove their
condemnation; what is this but to play the minister of
Satan, and to do his work, in the name and garb of
a minister of Christ? It is a damnable treachery
against Christ and against the people's souls, to hide
their misery, when it is your office to reveal it; and to
let people deceive themselves in the matters of salva-
tion, and not to labour diHgently to undeceive them.
But some go further, and more opeidy act the part
of Satan, by reproaching the most faithful servants
of the Lord, and labouring to bring tlie people into
a conceit, that seriousness and carefulness, in the
matters of God and our salvation, are but hypocrisy
and unnecessary strictness : and in their company
and converse they give so much countenance to the
ungodly, and cast so much secret or open scorn upon
those that would live according to the Scriptures,
as hardencth multitudes in their impenitency. O
dreadful reckoning to these unfaithful shepherds,
when they must answer for the ruin of tlieir miser-
able flocks ! How great will their damnation be,
which must be aggravated by the damnation of so
many others ! When the question is, ' How come
so many souls to perish?' The answer must be,
' Because they set light by Christ and holiness,
which should have saved them.' But what made
them set light by Christ and holiness ? It was their
deceitful confidence, that they had so much part in
Christ and lioliness, as would suffice to save them,
tiiough indeed they were unsanctified strangers to
both. Tiiey were not practically acquainted with
their necessities. But how came they to continue
thus ignorant of themselves till it was too late ?

324

Because they had teachers tliat kept them strange
to the nature of true holiness, and did not labour,
publicly and privately, to convince them of their un-
done condition, and drive them to Christ, that by
him they might have life. Woe to such teachers
that ever they were born, that must then be found
under the guilt of such perfidiousness and cruelty !
Had they ever felt themselves, what it is to be pur-
sued by the law of conscience, and with broken
hearts to cast themselves on Christ as their only
hope and refuge, and what it is to be pardoned, and
saved by him from the wrath of God; and what it
is to be sanctified, and to be sensible of all his love,
they would take another course with sinners, and
talk of sin, and Christ, and holiness, at other rates,
and not deceive their people with themselves.

Direct. 1. My first direction, therefore, to you,
is in order to the knowledge of yourselves, that, if
it be possible, you will live under a faithful, soul-
searching, skilful pastor; and that you will make use
of his public and personal help, to bring you, and
keep you in continual acquaintance with yourselves.

As there is a double use of physicians; one gene-
ral, to teach men the common principles of physic, and
the other particular, to apply these common precepts
to each individual person as they need: so is there a
double use of ministers of the gospel; one to deliver
publicly the common doctrines of Christianity, con-
cerning man's sin and misery, and the remedy, &c.
and the other to help people in the personal applica-
tion of all this to themselves. And they that take
up only with the former, deprive themselves of half
the benefit of the ministry.

325

1. In public, how skilful and diligent should we
be, in opening the hearts of sinners to themselves !
The pulpit is but our candlestick, from which we
should diffuse the holy light into all the assembly; not
speaking the same things of all that are before us, as
if it were our work to trouble men, or only to comfort
them : but, as the same light will show every man the
things which he beholdeth, in their varieties and dif-
ferences, so the same word of truth which we deliver,
must be so discovering and discriminating, as to ma-
nifest the ungodly to be ungodly, and the carnal to
be carnal; the worldling to be a worlding; the hypo-
crite to be a hypocrite; and the enemies of holiness
to be as they are ; and the sincere to be sincere; and
the renewed soul to be indeed renewed. The same
light must show the excellency of sanctification, and
the filthiness of sin ; the glory of the image of Christ,
and the deformity of that spiritual death, which is its
privation. It must show the righteous to be "more
excellent than his neighbour," and help men to
"discern between the righteous and the wicked;
between him that serveth God, and him that serveth
him not." We must not be like the miserable un-
godly preachers, that cannot describe the state of
grace with clearness and feelingly, because they never
knew it; or that dare not discover the unsanctified,
lest they detect themselves, nor judge them according
to their office, lest they condemn themselves ; and
that preach to the ungodly as if all were well with
them; and they dare not awaken the consciences of
others, lest they should awaken and affright their
own : and therefore are ready to scorn at all dis-
tinguishing preachers, and to take the discovery of

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regeneration to be but tlie boasting of hypocrisy; as
if he tliat woultl difler from the most, or did pretend
to the speclnl privileges of the saints, did but as the
Pharisee, " Thank God that he is not Hke other
men ;" or say, " Stand by, I am more holy than thou."
And if these preachers could prove that all men
should be saved that will but say they are Christians,
they might then have hope of being saved themselves,
without that serious piety which they so distaste.
No wonder, therefore, if they preach in the language
of Korah : " Ye take too much upon you, seeing
all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and
the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up
yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?" But
the Lord saith, " If you take, forth the precious from
the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth : let them return
unto thee, but return not thou unto them." If you
love not differencing preaching, make no difference
from the true members of Christ by your hypocrisy
or ungodly living; be such as they, and we shall not
difference you from them. Read but the first Psalm,
and the fifteenth Psalm, and the third of John, and
the eighth to the Romans, and the third Epistle of
John ; and then tell me whether the Scripture be not
a differencing word, condemning some, and justifying
others, and showing the true state of the difference
between them. What ! is there no difference be-
tween the heirs of heaven and hell ? Or is the dif-
ference no more, than that one hath the name of a
Christian, and not the other? O no! when the
dreadful differencing day is come, men shall find that
there was another kind of difference between the way
of life and death : when many shall say, " Lord,

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Lord, have not we prophesied in thy name ? and iu
thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name
done many wonderful works?" To whom Christ
will profess, " I never knew you : depart from me,
ye that work iniquity." When " many shall come
from the east and west, and shall sit down with
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of
heaven : but the children of the kingdom shall be cast
out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth." What a difference will appear
between those that now converse together, between
whom the world, that judgeth by the outside, dis-
cerns but little or no difference ! When those things
shall be executed that are written in Matt. xxv. and
2 Thess. i. () what a difference will then appear !
When of those that were in the same church, the
same house, the same shop, the same bed, one shall
be- taken, and the other left: and the felicity that
-was hid in the seed of grace, shall shine forth to the
astonishment of the world, in the fulness of eternal
glory !

I know preachers are ordinarily hated that thus
difference between the godly and the ungodly : the
very names of difference are matter of scorn to guilty
souls, because they imply the matter of their ter-
ror. I have often noted this with admiration, in the
success of Christ's own doctrine upon the Jews,
when he had so preached the gospel, as that he had
the testimony of the multitude that wondered at the
gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth, yet
some were cavilling and believed not; and he saitli,
" I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three

328

years, &c. But unto none of them was EJias sent,
save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, to a woman that
was a widow. And mnny lepers were in Israel in
the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them
were cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian." But how
was this differencing doctrine of Christ entertained
by the Jews? It is said, " All they in the syna-
gogue, when they heard these things, were filled
with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the
city, and led him to the brow of the hill, whereon
their city was built, that they might cast him down
headlong." Read it, and consider what moved these
men to so much rage against Christ himself for
preaching this doctrine, which restrained the fruit of
the gospel to a few ; and then you will not wonder,
if those preachers that imitate Christ in this, be used
no better than their Master.

But let ministers know that this is their duty, to
show every man himself, his deeds, and state, as in-
deed they are : and let Christians choose and love
such ministers. Choose not the glass that makes
you fairest, but which is truest, and representeth
you to yourselves as God accounteth you ; whether
he do it with more eloquence or less, with smoother
or with rougher language : hear him if you may, that
will best acquaint you with the truth of your condi-
tion, and choose not those that speak not to the
heart.

2. And when you have heard the best, the most
searching preacher, do not think that now you can
do all the rest of the work yourselves, and that you
have no further need of help ; but make use of their
more particular personal advice.

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1. In case that, after your most diligent self-
examination, you are yet at uncertainty and doubt,
whether you are truly sanctified or not, the settling
of your states for all eternity, and the well-ground-
ing of your hopes and comforts, is a matter of such
unspeakable moment, as that you should not remain
in careless, negligent uncertainty, while God hath
provided you any further means that may be used
for assurance. Yea, if you were not troubled with
doubting, yet if you have opportunity of opening
your evidences to a judicious, faithful minister or
friend, I think it may be worth your labour, for the
confirmation of the peace and comforts which you
have. You cannot make too sure of everlasting
happiness.

2. And not only in the first settling of your
peace, but also when any notable assault or danger-
ous temptation shall afterward shake it, which you
cannot overcome without assistance, it is seasonable
to betake yourselves to a physician ; and also, in
case of any dangerous lapse or declining, that hath
brought you into a state of darkness.

4. Also, in case of any particular corruption or
temptation, your particular inclinations may, cau-
tiously, be opened to a faithful guide, that, by his
prudent and lively counsel, you may be strength-
ened. If you say, ' To what end do ministers
preach to me, and why do I hear them opening the
natures of grace and of hypocrisy, if I cannot judge
of myself by the doctrine which they preach ?' I
answer, I. You may and must judge yourselves by
the public common helps, as far as you are able; but
a personal, applying help, added unto this, is a

330

further advantage. And humility should teach you,
not to think better of your understandings than there
is cause ; nor to think you are so wise as to need
but one help, when God hath provided you two.
And doth not your own experience convince you ?
Do you not find, that, after the best public preach-
ing, you are yet in doubt, and at a loss about your
spiritual state, and therefore that you have need of
further help ?

2. I further answer you : There is so great a
diversity of particular circumstances in the cases of
particular persons, that a great deal of help is neces-
sary to most, to pass a right judgment, when they
do understand both the law and the fact. Will yon
think it enough that you have the statutes of the land,
and the law-books, to judge of all your own cases by ?
Or will you not think that you have also need of
the counsel of the wisest lawyer, in your weightiest
cases, to help you to judge of your cause by the par-
ticular application of the law to it ? It is not read-
ing a book only, or hearing a lecture, that can make
you as understanding as the masters of the profes-
sion. So is it in matters of the soul. When you
have heard much, and understand much, you cannot
in modesty think that all the sense of Scripture,
about those points, is known as exactly to you, as
to your most judicious teachers; and that you are as
able at once to see all the passages of the word, and
of the fact, as may enable you to pass so clear a
judgment on it. Perhaps you will say, that you
know your own hearts and actions better than they
do. I answer, you do so, or should do so; and it
is you that they must know it from ; and yet, when

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you have done, you may not be able to judge of
your state by those acts which you say you know.
You must show the lawyer all your evidences : he
cannot see them, till you show them him ; and yet
when he seeth them, he can judge of them whether
they are good or bad, and of your title by them,
better than you can that have the keeping of them,
because he better understands the law.

But perhaps you will say, that when you have
gone to ministers, and opened your case to them,
they cannot resolve you, but you are still in doubt.

I answer, 1. Perhaps when they have resolved
them, yet you would not be resolved. Have they
not told you the truth, and you would not believe it?
Or directed you to remedies which you would not
use? They cannot, when they have told you the
truth, compel you to believe it; nor when they have
told you what will do the cure, they cannot make
you use it if you refuse.

2. And what if the nature of the disease be ob-
stinate, and will not be cured easily and at once, but
with time, and diligence, and patience? Will you
therefore think the means are vain ? Must you at
once, or in a short time, be resolved, and delivered
from all your doubts, about your title to eternal life,
or else will you cast oft' all advice? Should your
children learn thus of their teachers, they were likely
to make unhappy scholars. As you will not have
done with Christ, if he cure you not at once, nor
give over praying, if you have not all your desires
at once, (if you love yourselves,) so you must not
have done with the counsel of your guides, if they
satisfy not your doubts at once : as you cease not

332

hearing them in public, though you have still your
doubtings; so why should you cease advising with
them personally upon that account? Use God's
means, and be thankful, if" by degrees they do cure,
and prevail at last.

Object. * But I find it is God only that can speak
peace; and therefore it is vain to hang on men.'

I answer, God spcaketh by his word and Spirit:
his word is to be delivered, expounded, and applied
to you by his ministers: if therefore you will have
it from God, you must not refuse his own appointed
ordinary means. The Spirit comforteth by the
promise: as in conversion God useth not to do it by
the Spirit, without, but in, and by the ministry of
the word, so also in all our directions, and satisfac-
tion and comfort afterwards. As he that will run
from the ministry of the word, because it is God
that must convert, doth indeed run from God, and
is not likely to be converted; so is it in point of
assurance and consolation. The teachers of the
church " are to be accounted of as the ministers of
Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God," " by
whom the people have believed;" " not having
dominion over their faith, but being helpers of their
joy;" " who are comforted in all their tribulations,
that they might be able to comfort them that are in
any trouble, by the comfort wherewith they them-
selves are comforted of God." They are to be
" faithful and wise stewards, whom the Lord maketh
rulers over his household, to give them their portion
of meat in due season." Thus Christ has given
" authority to his servants, and appointed to every
man his work," and " given pastors and teachers to his

333

church, for the perfectuig of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect
man." These, therefore, being Christ's oflScers, and
this their appointed work, we must receive so much
of God's mercies by their hands, as belongeth to
their office to administer. " If there be a mes-
senger vvith him, an interpreter, one among a thou-
sand, to show unto man his uprightness, then God
is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from
going down to the pit; I have found a ransom."

So that you see it is God's way to show to man
his uprightness, and to speak peace to souls by his
messengers and interpreters that are fitted and
authorised thereto.

Object. ' But it is but few that are able thus to
discuss the case of unsettled, doubting souls, and
to give them clear and safe directions, that may save
both from presumption and despair: in many places
the ministers are senseless of these things, and un-
acquainted with the concerns and works of conscience,
and have nothing to say to us, unless to deride us
as scrupulous and precise; and bid us not trouble
our heads about such matters, seeing God is merci-
ful, and Christ died for sinners. They will dis-
course with us long enough about news, or worldly
businesses, or opinions, or controversies ; but when
we open to them the state of our souls, and desire
their advice for the " making our calling and elec-
tion sure," they have no sense or savour of such
discourse: and many ministers that are truly con-
scientious, are yet so unskilful and so weak, that we

334

have no encouragement to acquaint them with our
state.'

To this I answer : It cannot be denied but all
this is too true; and it is matter of lamentation, and
must send us to God, with the old petition which
Christ himself hath put into our mouths, " The
harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few:
pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he
will send forth labourers into his harvest."

But consider that this is no unusual thing ; for
all this, there is no nation under heaven, that hath
more able, faithful ministers of Christ, than are in
these nations. Alas, how much of the church is
guided by mere ignorant readers ! And how much
by superstitious deceivers ! Did you know the case
of the poor Christians in the Ethiopian, the Greek,
and the Roman churches, you would bless God that
it is so well with us; even when the church was in
a narrower room, yet God complained, " Many
pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trod-
den my portion under foot, they have made my
pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have
made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth
unto me. — Woe be unto the pastors that destroy
and scatter the sheep of my pasture ! saith the Lord.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against
the pastors that feed my people. Ye have scattered
my flock, and driven them away, and have not
visited them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil
of your doings, saith the Lord. — And I will set up
shepherds over them, which shall feed them; and
they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed." Then
was the church fain to take up this lamentation.

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" Woe is me for my hurt ! my wound is grievous:
but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are
broken : my children are gone forth of me, and they
are not; there is none to stretch forth my tent any
more, and to set up my curtains. For the pastors
are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord :
therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks
shall be scattered."

But the voice of healing mercy saith, " Only ac-
knowledge thine iniquity, 8cc. — Turn, O backsliding
children. See. — and I will give you pastors according
to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge
and understanding."

You see, in all other professions, that require not
supernatural illumination, there are but few that at-
tain to excellency; it is but in few that nature layeth
the foundation, or giveth that capacity to be excel-
lent, which grace doth elevate and improve.

Take, therefore, the advice of the ablest you can
get. I will not persuade you to go always to the
minister of your parish, to open the case of your
souls, be he fit or unfit; but to the fittest that you
can have access to : the Papists themselves will give
men leave to choose others for their confessors.
Where there is most of the heavenly illumination,
and holy skill in the matters of the soul ; where
there is the soundest and most exact judgment,
joined with experience and tendcrcompassion, and
faitliful plainness, and cautious secrecy, there open
your hearts, if you have an opportunity, and take
the help of such faithful counsellors to acquaint yon
with yourselves.

336

Object. ' But such ministers being few, and hav-
ing more of greater work than they can turn them
to, are not to be spoken with as oft as my necessity
requireth help.'

A/isw. Use then the best that are at leisure; and
it is not only ministers that you must use, but any
other Christian friend that hath such abilities and
qualifications, as fit them to assist you: whosoever
hath the light, refuse not to come to it; God's gifts
and graces may be helpful to you in a parent, a hus-
band, a neighbour, and not only in a minister.

Qiiest. ' But how far may a dark and doubting
person take up and rest in the judgment of a minister,
or of others, about the state of his soul, when he is
not satisfied himself ?'

Aiisw. This question is of very great use, and
therefore the more carefully to be resolved; I shall
answer it, therefore, 1. Negatively, and, 2. Affirma-
tively.

1. No man's judgment of your state is to be
taken as absolutely infallible or divine: nor is man
to be believed, as God is, with a divine belief.
When they tell you, that ' If you are regenerate,
you are justified,' then they do but tell you what
God hath told you, and, therefore, this is to be
taken as of infallible certainty, not as it is their
word, but as it is God's. So also, when they tell
you, that ' If you are unconverted, you are not for-
given.' But when they tell you, that 'you are con-
verted or unconverted, pardoned or unpardoned,' this
judgment is not to be taken as infallible or divine.

2. For the bare matter of fact (whether you re-
pent or not; whether you had rather be holy or

337

unholy, &c.) there is no minister that can know
your heart so well as yourselves may know it, ex-
cept in case when melancholy or passion, or a weak-
ness of understanding on one side, or a wilfulness
of presumption on the other side, doth make men
judge of their own condition quite contrary to the
evidence that appeareth in their lives to others.

3. It is not safe to rest on the judgment of one
that is either an enemy or stranger to the workings
of a careful, troubled soul ; or one that is fond of
any private opinion of his own, and layeth out his
zeal to form people into his opinion, as if the life of
religion lay in that : nor yet of a weak, unskilful
man.

4. It is not safe for you to rest much in the
judgment of one that knows you not, and is not ac-
quainted of the bent and manner of your lives, but
must judge only by the present expressions of your
own mouths.

5. It is not safe for you to rest on the judgment
of any one single person, when the judgment of
most of your judicious acquaintance is contrary to it.

2. Affirmatively, I answer,

1. By a divine faith you are bound to believe all
the promises of Scripture that your pastor (or any
other) shall acquaint you with.

2. As a disciple of Christ, you are bound to learn
the meaning of those promises (and other passages
of the Scripture) from your teachers, duly authorised
to instruct you : and with such a human belief, as a
scholar oweth to his teacher in arts or sciences, you
are bound to believe your teachers concerning the
meaning of the promises, in cases wherein you are

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338

unable yourselves to understand tlic word by its
proper light and evidence, as well as they; and in
case you see no evidence of falsehood in their ex-
position, nor have any special reason to distrust them.
He that will believe nothing that his teacher telleth
him, in order to his own understanding, shall never
understand by teaching. If you know as much as
he already, you need no teacher: if you do not, you
must believe him, or else you can never learn of
him. But this is not to take him for omniscient,
or infallible in himself, but to credit him as a man.

3. You are bound, when he judgeth of your par-
ticular case, upon your opening to him the matter of
fact, to allow him so much credit as is due to the
proportion of his understanding. You tell him how
you feel your hearts affected, and what the actions
of your lives have been ; when you have told it him,
he judgeth by God's word, whether this be a state
of saving grace which you describe, or not; if upon
much stronger parts, or longer study, and more ex-
perience, he know more of the meaning of the word,
and of the nature of grace, and so be abler to judge
than you, modesty requireth that you do in that
measure submit your understanding unto his, and
believe him according to the measure of his skill,
upon supposition that you deceive him not in your
information. Even as you will believe a lawyer
about your title to your lands, when you have showed
liim your evidence ; or a physician about your disease,
when you have told him what you feel.

4. You are bound to add also, all that credit that
his honesty and fidelity requireth, if he be a godly
man, unwilling to deceive you.

339

5. And you are bound to add so much belief, as
in the case is due to a stander-by that is not blinded
by self-love, or partiality, or passions, or any selfish
bias, as most men are to themselves.

6. If you are darkened by melancholy, or any
other weakening distemper, that maketh you in-
capable of judging for yourselves, you are bound to
allow another so much credit, as the advantage of
his sounder understanding, and more composed judg-
ment doth require. If every child, or sick person,
will believe nobody that doth not say as they, their
self-conceitedness and their distrust of others will be
their wrong.

7. In the manner of reception, you are bound to
do all this with such a submission as belongeth to
an officer of Christ : not that you are to believe any
falsehood that he bringeth you, and fathereth upon
Christ ; nor to put out your own eyes, and see with
his; but to learn of him to understand yourselves,
and receive what he bringeth you, according to his
office.

8. You may yet more boldly and confidently give
credit to the judgment of such a minister of Christ,
when he is not singular, but speaks according to the
concurrent judgment of the generality of able, ex-
perienced men : modesty will forbid you to think
yourselves wiser than all the able ministers about you.

9. You have the less reason to suspect his judg-
ment, when you may be sure that he is not per-
verted by any self-interest or self-respect, and frus-
trateth not the truth for fear of displeasing you, or
bringing any discredit or suffering on himself.

10. Lastly, Wheu all these things concur, you

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may, with the greater confidence, rest upon his
judgment. And though still he is but an imperfect
man, and no absolute certainty of your state can be
had from his bare judgment, (though from his doc-
trine, and the effects and signs, there may,) yet such
a judgment should weigh very much with you, to
the raising of fear and care in the ungodly, and for
the quieting of a troubled soul.

Let us now apply this direction to both parties.
Beloved, if any of you can look before you to eter-
nity, and do not, with awakened thoughts, conclude,
that all probable means should be used in time, to
make sure of your final justification at the dreadful
day of God, that man wants either the faith of a
Christian, or the feeling of a considerate man. Are
you all desirous to be sure beforehand, what sen-
tence shall pass upon you then, or are you not ?
If you are, come on, and let me make a motion that
you cannot reasonably refuse : the business is of
unspeakable consequence : to be deceived, may be
to be undone for ever. Will you advise with those
that God hath appointed to give you advice in so
great a case ? Well then ; will you go and faith-
fully open your state to some able, faithful minister
of Christ ? Not to an ignorant, carnal, unexperienced
man, but to one that is skilled in spiritual affairs,
and that will be faithful to you, and deal with that
serious gravity and reverence as beseems him that is
helping to prepare a soul for the bar of Clirist.
Will you tell him, whether ever you were con-
vinced of your sin and misery ? And whether ever
you saw the need of Christ ? And whether you
have loathed yourselves for your iniquities, and fled

341

to Christ, as your only refuge from the wrath of
God, and have turned away, with resolution, from
your former ungodly, careless life, and have changed
your company, your business, and your delights ?
Whether you make it your chief business to please
God, and to save your souls ? and resolve to take up
with the hopes of heaven as your only portion, and
not to hazard it for any worldly interest, or fleshly
pleasure whatsoever? " Whether in your eyes a
vile person be contemned, but you love and honour
them that fear the Lord ?" Tell these, and other
such particulars of your state, to your faithful pas-
tors : answer them to these, and such like questions,
and then take their judgment (with the cautions be-
fore expressed) of your spiritual state. Hear what
they will tell you of it. Alight not this course con-
vince thee of thy miserable state, that never hadst
any such evidences as these to show ? and might it
not awaken thee in time, to bethink thee of a safer
course? Go to any faithful minister in the world,
and tell him the plain truth, that yet thou art a
secret fornicator, or drunkard, or flesh-pleaser in
some sensual way; or if thou sinnest not so grossly,
that yet thou art a formal hypocrite, and hast a
secret enmity to those that are most seriously reli-
gious, and live the most heavenly lives, and that
thou art thyself a stranger to sanctification : and I
dare assure thee that he will tell thee, if thou art
thus indeed, thou art in the " gall of bitterness, and
the bond of iniquity," and must be speedily re-
newed and sanctified, and justified, or thou art un-
done for ever. I tell thee, there is not a man that
is worthy the name of a minister, but will pass this

342

judgment on the condition of thy soul. And, yet,
wilt thou bear it out with a senseless heart, a seared
conscience, and a brazen face ; and still live as care-
lessly as if all were well with thee ! What ! is thy
soul of no more worth ? Is it so small a matter with
thee, what becometh of thee? Or is the judgment
of able, faithful ministers, in the way of their own
office, of no more regard with thee ? They show
thee the plain word of God against thee ; and that
his threatening contains the virtual sentence of thy
condemnation : they are, by office, the interpreters of
the law of God to you ; it hath been the study of
their lives. Do they pronounce you miserable, as
being strangers to the Spirit of Christ ? So they
did by themselves, when they saw their sin ; and,
therefore, they are impartial : they have had before
them multitudes, (alas ! too many,) in your case: and
you will regard the judgment of a pliysician, that
hath had many hundreds in hand that had the same
disease as you. They are men that are not willing
to deceive you. They deny themselves, in telling
you of your danger : they know that smoother words
would please you better; and they have natures that
desire men's love and favour, rather than displeasure.
They are more impartial than you are, and have not
your self-interest and passion to blind them : they
are not abused in their judgment by the temptations
of evil company, or of worldly, fleshly things as you
are ; for these temptations more hinder us from
judging ourselves than other men. They are the
messengers of Christ, appointed to give to each their
portion ; and should not their judgment be regarded,
in the business committed to their trust? And it is

343

not one man or two, or a hundred only, that are of
this mind. Open thy case to all the judicious,
faitiiful ministers in the land, and open it truly, and
they will all tell thee, that ' If thou die without
converting, sanctifying grace, thou art lost for ever
and that all the world cannot save thee from the
everlasting wrath of God. Try as many of them
as you will, and see if all of them tell you not the
same thing. And is all this nothing to thee, pre-
sumptuous sinner, that in the judgment of all the
most able, faithful ministers of Christ, thy soul
should be in a state of death ? If all the physicians
in the country should tell thee, that ' Thou hast a
disease that will certainly be thy death, unless thou
take some one effectual medicine in time,' I think
thou wouldst not slight their judgment, and say,
they are too censorious, that thou knowcst thy con-
dition better than they. I think it would affright
thee to seek after the remedy. And why should not
the judgment of the faithful ministers, about the
state of thy soul, be so far regarded, as to awaken
ihee to a more careful inquiry, and stir up a pre-
venting and remedying fear?

O the madness of a hardened sinner ! that when
he showeth, by the fruits of an ungodly life, that he
is a stranger to sanctification, and liveth in the sins
wliich the Scripture threatcncth damnation to, and
hath no evidence of true conversion to show, will yet
be confident of pardon and salvation, let God and all
his ministers say what they will against it ! and will
rather be offended with his spiritual physicians, for
telling him of the danger of his state, and rail at them
as if they did him wrong, than he will see his dan-

344

ger and prevent his misery ! Let such a one hear
the word of God, if he have ears to hear, " Lest
there should be among you a root that beareth gall
and wormwood, and it come to pass, when he hear-
eth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in
his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk
in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunken-
ness to thirst : the Lord will not spare him, but then
the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy shall smoke
against that man, and all the curses that are written
in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall
blot out his name from under heaven. And the
Lord shall separate him unto evil."

And, on the other hand, is there any soul among
you, that, in doubts, hath opened his case to the
faithful ministers of Christ, and their judgment is,
that your state is safe ? Is this the judgment, not
only of the weakest, but the wisest ; not only of one
or two, but of ail, or most of the judicious ministers
that ever you opened your case to; even of the most
honest and impartial, tliat would not flatter nor de-
ceive you ? Yea, and perhaps, when desertions, or
melancholy, or passion, or ignorance, do make you
unmeet to judge of yourselves. And doth all this
seem nothing to you ; or a small matter ? It is not
nothing ; it is not small. I confess it is no ground
of certainty : they are but men : it is a human testi-
mony ; but yet it is a testimony that may weigh down
many of your own surmises, and take off much of
your distressing fears, and may give much ease to
troubled souls, while they arc seeking after surer
knowledge. It is a ground of comfort, not to be
despised, or made light of. Till you can come to

345

see your evidences yourselves, and to be acquainted
with the indwelling Spirit as your witness, you may
much quiet your minds, and take much comfort, in
this judgment and witness of the servants of the
Lord, that have a spirit of discerning, and have that
grace which acquainteth them with the nature of
grace in others, and that have been long exercised in
the discerning of men's states. It is possible a hy-
pocrite (especially one that wilfully giveth them a
false relation of himself) may deceive them ; but it is
probable that it is not one of many they are deceived
in, when they know or have a good description of
the person. If in a fever, all the ablest physicians
tell you the danger is past, it is possible they may be
all deceived : but yet, I think, you would take some
comfort in such a testimony ; so should you here.
Though the judgment of ministers be not infallible,
it may be much better than your own, though about
yourselves ; and it may be set against the jealousies
and fears of a disquiet soul, and against abundance of
tlie molesting suggestions of the accuser.

I do not, by all this, draw you to lay too much on
man; I advance them not too high, and make them
not lords of your faith, but helpers of your joy. I
bid you not fully and finally rest in the judgment of
man ; I bid you not neglect any means to come to
fuller knowledge, and certainty of your own sincerity.
I bid you not forbear any means that tend to the
getting of true grace. If you have it, and know
it not, the same means may increase it, which you
use to get it : and if you have it not, when it is
thought you have it, the means may work it, that
are intended to increase it. Do all that you can to
p 3

346

repent, believe, and love God, and live to liim, whe-
ther you ever did these before or not. But yet let
the judgment of your faithful pastors, the officers and
experienced servants of the Lord, keep off despond-
ency and despair, that would disable you from the
use of the means, and would weaken your hands,
and make you sit down in unprofitable complaints,
and give up all as hopeless. Let their judgment
quiet you in the way of duty ; lean on them in the
dark, till you come into the light. Yea, be glad
that you have so much encouragement and hope,
from those that are by Christ appointed to subserve
the Spirit, in the comforting as well as the sanctify-
ing work, and to show to man his uprightness, and
to say to the righteous, " It shall be well with him."
I tell you, all the wealth of the world is not worth
even this mucli ground of comfort. Live upon this
much, till, by diligent attendance, and waiting on
the Spirit of grace and comfort, you can get higher.

2. The second extrinsic hinderance of Self-know-
ledge is prosperity, and the flattery that usually
attendeth it. The one disposeth men to be de-
ceived, and the other putteth the hood over their
eyes, and tells them the falsehoods which deceive
them.

When men prosper in the world, their minds are
lifted up with their estates; and they can hardly be-
lieve that they are indeed so ill, while they feel
themselves so well ; and that so much misery is
joined with so much content and pleasure. They
cannot taste the bitterness of their sin, and God's
displeasure, while the sweetness of worldly delights

317

and honours is in their mouths. The rich man in
Luke xvi. would have (fiven a man but an unwelcome
entertainment, that had come to tell him that, within
a few days or years, he should lie in hell, and not be
able to get a drop of water to cool his tongue !
What need we doubt of that, when his five brethren,
that he left on earth behind him, would not be per-
suaded (to know their danger of those flames, and to
use the necessary means to escape them), though
one had come to them from the dead ! You plead
against their feeling, when you tell them of their
misery, when they feel prosperity. And, therefore,
it is a matter of lamentable difficulty, to make a pros-
pering sinner well acquainted with his misery. He
is drunken with fleshly pleasures and contentments :
and when the drink is in a man's head, you can
hardly make him sensible of his misery. The
devil is therefore willing to reach his servants as
full a cup of prosperity as he can, that their
drunkenness may keep them from the true use of
their reason : for if they once come to themselves,
they will come home to God, When misery
brought the prodigal to himself, he rcsolveth pre-
sently of going to his father. The bustle of his
worldly business, and the vain discourse that is in his
ears, and the mirth and sport that takes him up,
will not allow him so much of reason, as seriously to
consider of his soul's condition, Alas ! when poor
men, that must labour all day for food and raiment,
can find some time for serious converse with God,
and with their consciences, the great ones of the
world have no such leisure. How many are going
apace towards hell, and say, they cannot have time

348

to bethink themselves what way they are in, or whi-
ther it is that they are going ! That which they
have all their time for, they have no time for, be-
cause they have no hearts for it. Prosperity doth
so please tlieir flesh, that they can give no heed to
conscience or reason : it doth so charm their minds,
and enslave their wills to sense and appetite, that
they cannot endure to be so melancholy, as to pre-
pare for death and judgment, or to consider seriously
how this will relish with them at the end ; nor scarcely
to remember that they are men, that should rule their
senses, and be ruled by God, and that have another
life to live.

And as prosperity in itself is so great a hinderance
to the knowledge of yourselves, so flatterers, that are
the flies of summer, are always ready to blow upon
the prosperous, and increase the danger. What
miserable men are extolled as wise, and virtuous, and
religious, if they be but rich and great ! their vices
are masked, or extenuated, and made but little human
frailties ; though they were gluttons, or drunkards,
or filthy fornicators, or mere flesh-pleasing, sensual
brutes, that waste most of their lives in ease and
sports, and eating and drinking, and such delights ;
yet, with their flatterers, all these shall go for pru-
dent, pious, worthy persons, if they can but seek,
when they have done, to mock God and their con-
sciences with some lip-service and lifeless carcase of
religion. O happy men, if God would judge of
them as their flatterers do; and would make as small
a matter of their wickedness, and as great a matter
of their outside, hypocritical, heartless worship I
But they must be greater than men or angels, and

349

higher than either earth or heaven, before God will
flatter them. When they can make him afraid of
their high looks or threatenings, or when they can
put him in hope of rising by their preferment, then
they may look that he should comply with their pa-
rasites, and compliment with his enemies, and justify
the ungodly ; but not till then. O did they con-
sider how little flattery doth secure them, and how
little the Judge of all the world regards their worldly
pomp and splendour ; yea, how greatly their great-
ness doth aggravate their sin and misery, they would
frown their flatterers out of doors, and call for plain
and faithful dealers. Of all the miseries of worldly
greatness, this is not the least, that usually such
want the necessary blessing of a glass that will truly •
show them their faces ; of a friend at hand that will
deal plainly and justly with their souls. Who tells
them plainly of the odiousness, and bitter fruits of
sin ; and of the wrath of God, and endless misery ?
How few such true and faithful friends have they !
and what wonder, when it is a carnal inducement
that draweth men to follow them. It is their wealth
and honour, and their power to do men good or hurt
in outward things, that makes their friends. They
are attended by these flies and wasps, because they
carry the honey-pot which they love. And God
saith to his followers, " Love not the world, nor the
things that are in the world: if any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him." And
it is for love of worldly things, even the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eye, and pride of life, &c.
which are not of the Father, but of the world : it is
for these that great men have their friends and fol-

350

lowers : and, therefore, it is plain, that the worst sort
of men are ordinarily their friends ; for those are the
worst men, that have not the love of the Father in
them, but arc tlie friends of the world, and, there-
fore, the enemies of God. And the best, though
fit to be their truest friends, are seldom their fol-
lowers, as knowing that the attractive of the sensual
world is a shadow, unfit to deceive those that are ac-
quainted witli its vanity, and a snare, unfit to take
those that have observed how Satan lays and baits
the trap, and how they have fared that have been
taken in it. A despised Christ, that hath the words
of eternal life, is much more followed by men that
have the heavenly relish. Such gracious souls,
whose appetites are not corrupted by the creature,
have more mind to flock after a spiritual and power-
ful messenger of Christ, that talks to them of his
kingdom, and the righteousness thereof, which they
first seek, than to gape after the preferment and vain-
glory of prosperity. Christ, that despised the offer
of all the kingdoms and glory of the world, doth
teach his followers to despise them.

Seeing, then, the ordinary attendants of the pros-
perous are the worst of men, that seek themselves,
and are purveying for the flesh, what wonder if they
be flatterers, that have neither skill, nor will, to
speak that unpleasing language of reproof, that
should make the prosperous know themselves ! O
how seldom (or never) do they hear, what the poor
can hear from every mouth ! If a man of low de-
gree be wicked, or offend, his enemy dare tell him
of it, and his friend dare tell him of it, and his angry
neighbour, or companion, will be sure to tell him of

351

it ; and they dare tell him frequently till he amend,
and tell him plainly. But if great ones be as bad,
and need more help, as having more temptation, yet,
alas ! they may sin, and sin again, and perish, for
any body that will deal faithfully with their souls,
except some faithful minister of Christ, whose
plainness is taken but for a thing of course. And
usually, even ministers themselves arc some of them
so unfaithful, and some so fearful, and some so pru-
dently cautious, that such persons have no such
help from them to know themselves, as the poorer
sort of people have. If we deal freely with them,
if it olFcnd, yet offence may be easily borne, as
bringing no ill consequents to our ministry ; but if
we deal so with the great ones of the world, what
outcries would it raise, and by what names should
we and our preaching be called ! Though yet I
doubt not but it is borne and loved by those that
have true grace; and that if David sin, he can en-
dure to hear from Nathan, " Thou art the man."
And an Eli can bear the prophecy of Samuel, and
say, " It is the Lord ; let him do what seemeth him
good." And a Hczekiah can say, " Good is the
word of the Lord which thou hast spoken ;" and
Josiah can bear the threatenings of Iluldah. And
it is a double honour in persons that have so great
temptations, to love the plain discoveries of their
sin; but a Joash will slay even Zcchariah, the son
of Jchoiada, that set him up ; and a Herod, that
hath so much religion as to fear John, as knowing
that he was a just man, and a holy, and to observe
(or save him); and when he heard him, to do many
things, and hear him gladly, had yet so much love

352

to his fleshly lust, aud so little power to resist a
flatterer, as that lie coiikl sell both the head of John
and his own soul, for so pitiful a price as this. So
true is that saying of Christ himself, " For every
one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither comcth
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved (or
discovered). But he that doeth truth cometh to
the light, that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought in God."

And, indeed, there is none that more opposeth
Micaiah than Zedekiah, as being concerned for the
honour of his flattering prophecy, to bring plain
dealing into disgrace. It is he that smiteth him,
and saith, " Which way went the Spirit of the
Lord from me, to speak unto thee?" But saith
Solomon, " He that rebuketh a man, afterward shall
find more favour than he that flattereth with the
tongue." And, " Faithful are the wounds of a
friend ; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."
When prosperity is vanished, the flatterer and the
faithful dealer will be better known. None of them
will admire or applaud you when you are low, and
the tide is gone, and hath left you in contempt:
these kind of men will be as ready as any to reproach
you ; as Shcmei that honoured David in his pros-
perity, but curseth him, and revileth him as a rebel
against Saul, and casteth stones at him, when he
saw him flying in distress. Commonly men in
misery, or at death, have better thoughts of faithful
plainness, and worse of smoothing man-pleasers, than
before.

But whom can the prosperous blame so much as
themselves, if they are undone by the deceit of flat-

353

terers ? It is their own choice ; they love to have
it so; they will not endure faithful dealing. When
they contract those diseases which will not be cured
without bitter medicines, they hate the physician
that offereth them ; their appetites and sensual lust,
and not their believing-reason, doth choose their
work, their pleasures, and their company, and pre-
scribe what language must be spoken to them.
And he that resolves to cast away the remedy, and
will please his appetite and fancy, come of it what
will, must take what he gets by it, and bear the
endless wrath of God, that could not bear the ne-
cessary warnings and self-knowledge that should
have prevented it. Did these men hate sin, and
the messengers of Satan, they would not hate the
justice and messengers of God ; but while they
damnably love fleshly pleasures, they cannot savingly
love the word that chargeth them to let go those
pleasures, nor the persons that cross them in the
things they love. And thus, poor worldlings are
ruined by their own desires; it seemeth so sweet to
them to live in sin, that they cannot endure to know
the bitter fruits of misery, which it will at last bring
forth. They are conquered by their fleshly lusts,
and, therefore, they hate the messengers of that
Spirit which would fight against them. Satan doth
perfect his former victories in them, by dispelling, or
dispersing, the auxiliaries of Christ, that were sent
for their rescue and relief. They live as if they
were purposely made great, that they may be able
to drive away the messengers of salvation, and to
keep the voice of mercy far enough from their ears ;
and to command that which the Gadarenes did en-.

f

354

treat, that Christ would go out of their coasts, be-
cause they would not be troubled with him. They
so much love the way to hell, that they cannot abide
to be told whither it leadeth them, and, therefore,
they come thither before they are aware, and must
know themselves by the unquenchable fire, because
they would not know themselves by the discovering
recovering light. And thus, by prosperity and
flattery, Satan pursues and wins his game.

Direct. 2. In opposition to this hinderance, two
things are to be done. 1. Desire not so perilous a
station as worldly prosperity and greatness is. Love
not, and seek not, a condition so hazardous to your
souls. Leave that to them that take it for their
portion, as not, believing what they must lose and
suffer by it; or what God hath revealed of the life
to come.

Or if you be in such prosperity, not by your de-
sire, but by the will and providence of God, let your
fear and watchfulness be doubled, as your dangers
are; be not like those sensualists, that " feed them-
selves without fear." Use not prosperity to the
pleasing of the flesh, and the prospering of your
lusts, but deny yourselves in the midst of your
abundance; and turn it into an adversity to your
sensual inclinations, by taming the body, and bring-
ing it into subjection, and suspecting yourselves,
and walking humbly with God and man.

And when adversity is upon you, improve the op-
portunity for the knowledge of yourselves. Then
take a just survey of your former course of life.
Then try your ways, when the drunkenness and de-
ceits of prosperity are past, and the hand of God

355

hath brought you into a sober and considerate state.
O how many souls do know that in one day, when
adversity hath made them wise and sensible, which
before they knew, and would not know ; they saw
it, but did not understand and feel it ! Then, on a
sudden, they are able to pass a right judgment, upon
their yielding to temptations, and the value of the
things that tempted them, and upon their worldly
designs, and fleshly wisdom, and their neglects of
God, and heaven, and duty, than before they could do,
though they had ever so much instruction. Affliction
taketh away the deceiving advantages of fleshly ob-
jects, and unmasketh the glory and profit of the
world, and awakeneth the rational faculties to per-
form their ofSce, and, therefore, is an excellent op-
portunity for self-acquaintance. The prodigal came
to himself, when he was denied to fill his belly with
the food of swine. Nature teacheth men to under-
stand that it is the principal lesson that affliction
readeth to us, to know ourselves, and our ways, as
they are related to God and to his judgment.

2. If you are in prosperity, be the more suspicious
of flatterers, and drive them away with the greater
detestation. And be the more solicitous to procure
such faithful overseers and physicians for your souls,
as will do their best to save you, though they dis-
please you. O that you knew what an advantage
it is to have a faithful pastor, and a faithful friend,
that seek not yours but you, and make no advantage
to themselves by flattering you, but choose the means
that tend most to your salvation ! And O that you
knew the great disadvantage of those that want
such a pastor, and such a friend ! You would then

356

be sure to give it as your strictest charge to both,
to deal plainly with you, and never to hide or ex-
tenuate your sin or danger. You would charge
your teachers, ' Whatever you do, deal faithfully
with my soul ! If you see me in any dangerous
course, I beseech you tell me of it; if I should be
hardened against your warnings and reproofs, I
beseech you deal not lightly with me, but labour to
awaken me, and set it home, and pull me out of the
fire, and save me as with fear. O suffer me not to
be quiet in ray sins.' The like charge, also, you
would give to your friends that are about you, and
converse with you ; choose such pastors, and such
friends, as are fittest, to prove your friends indeed ;
and charge and entreat them, as they love your
souls, and as they will answer it before God, that
they suffer you not to sin for fear of displeasing you
by plain reproofs ; and resolve to submit and take it
well. A stander-by hath the great advantage of
impartiality, and, therefore, may see that in you
what you observe not in yourselves : self-love doth
not hinder us so much in judging of other men's
cases as our own. Friendly and faithful dealing,
in the matters of eternal consequence, is the princi-
pal use and benefit of friendsliip. This differenceth
the communion of saints from Beelzebub's swarm of
flies and caterpillars. Thus, " two are better than
one : for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow :
but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he
hath not another to help him up." Much more
woe to him, that hath a multitude to cast him and to
keep him down.

Hind. 3. The third extrinsical impediment to

357

self-knowledge, is conversing only with such as are
as bad as ourselves; and not with such whose lives
display the spiritual endowment, and excellencies
which we want. Though Christians that know
better the common disease, do know that there must
be a common humiliation and remedy, yet these
indeed are the thoughts of most ; they know not
that it is a matter of dishonour and lamentation, to
be no better than the most, and to lie in the common
corruptions of the world, and to have no better hearts
than they had by nature. To heqj preachers talk
of holiness, and a Divine nature, and a new birth,
and of being made new creatures, and of living in
the love of God, and in the joyful hopes of endless
glory, doth seem to them but as the talk of a world
in the sun, or the description of an angel, which
humbleth not them at all, for not being such, nor
exciteth in them any great desires to be such : as
long as they see not the persons that are such, they
think these are but devout imaginations, or the pious
dreams of melancholy men ; and that indeed there
are no such persons in the world. They judge of
all the world, or almost all, by those about them ;
and they think that God should be unmerciful if he
should condemn so great a number as they see are
like themselves ; and shcaild save none but those few
transcendent souls that they describe, but are unac-
quainted with.

It sometimes melteth my heart, in pity of many
great ones of the world, to think how hard a matter
it is for them to know indeed what holiness is; when
they seldom hear so much as one heavenly prayer
or discourse, or any serious talk of the matters of

358

sanctification, and communion with Christ. When
prof'aneness and wickedness dwell about them, and
make such as are but civil and temperate, and good-
natured persons, to seem saints : when they see but
few that fear the Lord, and love him unfeignedly,
and live by faith : and those few are perhaps of the
more cold, and timorous, and temporizing strain, that
show forth but little of the heavenly nature, and the
virtues of their holy faith; that dare scarce open
their mouths to speak against the wickedness which
they see or heaj^; that dare not discourse like the
saints of the Most High, and the heirs of heaven,
for fear of being made the scorn and by-word of the
rest, or of falling under the frowns and dislike of
their superiors ; so that they live among others al-
most like common men, save only that they run not
with them to their excess of riot; and think it enough
that by such forbearance of gross sin, they are in
some measure evil spoken of: when they that should
" let their light so shine before men, that they might
see their good works, and glorify their heavenly
Father, do hide their religion, and put their light as
under a bushel, and not in a candlestick, that it
might give light to all that are in the house;" and
so, when religion never appeareth in its proper splen-
dour and power, and heavenly tendency, to those
great ones that have no better company, what wonder
if they never know themselves, nor truly understand
the nature, necessity, or excellency of religion ?
When they know it, for the most part, but by hear-
say, yea, and when they hear it more reproached
than applauded, it must be a miracle of mercy that
must make such men to be sincerely and heartily

359

religious. When they see so many about them
worse than themselves, and so few better, and those
few that are better do hide it, and live almost as if
they were no better; and when the godly, whom
they see not, are described to them by the serpent's
seed, as if they were but a company of whining,
melancholy, brain-sick hypocrites, who can expect
that ever such men should savingly know themselves
or Christ, unless a wonder of mercy rescue them,
and bring them from this darkness and delusion into
the light? O how oft have I wished in compassion
to many of the great ones of the world, that they
did but hear the humble, holy, heavenly language,
that we have heard ! And hear the faithful fervent
prayers that many poor Christians pour out before
the Lord ! and saw but the humble, harmless, exem-
plary, and heavenly lives of many poor Christians,
that are represented to them as the filth and the
ofFscouring of the world, and perhaps no more re-
garded than Lazarus was at the rich man's gate.
Did they but see and hear, and know such holy and
heavenly believers, and were as well acquainted with
them as we are, how many of them would better
know themselves, and see what they want, and what
they must be, and better discern between the righ-
teous and the wicked, between those that fear God,
and those that fear him not ?

Direct. 3. It will, therefore, be a great help to
the knowledge of yourselves, if you will converse
with those that bear the holy image of their Creator,
and whose lives will tell you what it is to live by
faith, and what it is to walk in the Spirit, to mortify
the flesh, and to live above all the alluring vanities

360

of the world. We can more sensibly perceive the
nature of holiness, when we see it in action before
our eyes, than when we only read a description of it.
Many thousands can honour the name of a saint,
and the Scripture descriptions of a saint, that hate
the life of holiness, when it appeareth to them in
practice, and cannot endure a saint indeed. It will
most convincingly tell you what you want, when you
see what others have. To see how naturally they
breathe after heaven, will most convincingly show you
the dulness and earthliness of your minds: to see
how easily they can love an enemy, and forgive a
wrong, will acquaint you most sensibly with the evils
of your passionate, revengeful minds. Do but lay
by your prejudice and partiality, and see whether
there be not in serious Christians another spirit
than in the world : and whether they live not upon
the things above, which your belief and love did
never reach? Look upon believers, and consider
why they pray, and watch, and study to please God,
and then bethink yourselves, whether you have not
as much cause to do so as they : and so you may
perceive your negligence by their diligence ; your
senselessness by their tenderness of heart and con-
science ; your fleshliness by their spirituality; and
the rest of your sins by the lustre of their graces.
As Isidore saith, " Men know not themselves by
themselves alone."

Hence, therefore, the servants of God may see
how exactly they should live, and of what conse-
quence it is that they be eminently holy ; when it is
they that, by their heavenly excellency, must convince
the world of their sinfulness and misery. O Chris-

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tians, do you live such exemplary and convincing
lives? Is there indeed that excellency of holiness
appearing in you, which may show men, to the glory
of your Redeemer, how the heirs of heaven do differ
from the world ? Al as ! our common, careless living,
doth wrong to multitudes as well as to ourselves ; and
is a cruelty to the souls whose salvation we are bound,
by our examples, to promote. What then do those
men, that by tbeir vicious, scandalous conversation,
do harden the ungodly, and cause them to think con-
temptuously, and to speak scornfully, of the holy
way ! O woe to them, if they repent not, by whom
such offence cometh !

Especially, ministers should see that their lives be
a continual lecture. And, therefore, Chrysostora
concludeth, " That a priest that is bad, doth acquire,
by his priesthood, not dignity but disgrace. For
(saith he) thou sittest in judgment on thyself : if
thou live well and preach well, thou instructest the
people: if thou preach well and live ill, thou con-
demnest thyself. For by living well and preaching
well, thou instructest the people how to live : but by
preaching well and living ill, thou instructest God, as
it were, how to condemn thee."

And hence it is, also, that the servants of God
should have the care of their fame, as well as of their
conversation ; because the reputation of religion de-
pendeth much on the reputation of the religious : and
reputation doth much to the encouraging or discour-
aging of the ungodly that are strangers to the things
themselves. Saith Augustine, " Conscience is neces-
sary for thyself : and thy good name is necessary for
thy neighbour." When we raind our fame for the
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3G2

good of others, and the service of God, and not to
please a proud, vainglorious mind; and when we do it,
•without immoderate care, seeking it only by righteous
means, and referring ihe issue to the will of God, as
being prepared for evil report as well as good, this
is but to improve our talent to our Master's use.

CHAPTER XI.

Internal Hinderances of Sdf-Acqiiaintance.

H. I come next to tlie internal impediments to
self-acquaintance, especially in the worser sort of
men.

I. The first that I shall acquaint you with is,
Tliat natural, deep-rooted sin of pride, which strongly
inclineth men to think well of themselves, and to de-
sire that all others do so too : so that, where pride
is not discovered and subdued by grace, men will
scarcely endure to be closely questioned by ministers
or otlver friends, about their sin, and the condition of
their souls. What ! question them whether they
are ungodly, unsanctified, the servants of sin and
Satan ; in a state of death and condemnation ! Their
hearts will rise with indignation against him that will
put such questions to them. What ! question them
whether they have any saving grace ! Whether
they are regenerate, pardoned, and have any well-
grounded hopes of heaven ! They love not the
searching word of God; they love not the dis-
tinguishing passages of Scripture; they love not a

SG3

faithful, searching minister, because they would dis-
honour and trouble them with such doubts as these.
A proud man judgeth not of himself as he is, but as
his tumified, distempered fancy representeth him to
himself to be : to " think himself something when
he is nothing," and so to be wilfully his own de-
ceiver, is his disease. And as pride is one of the
deepest-rooted sins in man, and of greatest strength,
and most hardly extirpated and overcome, so true
self-acquaintance must be accordingly difficult, it
being carried on but by such degrees as we get
ground and victory against our pride. A proud man,
how wise soever in any other matters, as to the right
knowledge of himself, is like one that is crack-
brained, and hath not indeed the right use of reason:
pride was his fir*t tutor, and taught him what to be-
lieve of himself : so that Christ, who comes after with
a humbling doctrine, cannot be believed, nor scarcely
with any patience heard. O what a disease is to be
cured, before a proud person wUl well know himself !
What labour do we lose in all our sermons ! Yea,
how oft doth the medicine irritate the disease ! So
that a poor wretch, that is under the wrath of God,
and knoweth not, when he is gone out of the assem-
bly, whether the justice of Heaven will not take ven-
geance on him before he can come hither again, yet
cannot abide to hear of this, but, with Ahab, hateth
the pr eacJicr that prophesieth evil of him, be it ever
fio Uue. It is pride that leadeth up that array of
corruptioos, tliat here strive against the light of
itrutli, that is sent to convince and convert the guilty.
And is a man hke to be saved by the word, while
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he hateth it, and bends his thoughts and passions all
against it ?

Direct. 1. He, therefore, that will ever know
himself, must first let in so much of the light as may
take down his arrogancy, and bring him, as a little
child, to the school of Christ. First know what thou
art as a man ; and then know what thou art as a
sinner, and sentenced by God, that so thou mayest
come to know what thou art as one that is under the
hopes and duties of the redeemed. When thy
proud heart rcbelleth against conviction, remember
with whom thou hast to do. Will God speak sub-
missively to thee for fear of offending thee ? Will
he cry thee mercy for handling thee so roughly as to
tell thee thou art yet the child of wrath ? Is he
afraid to talk to thee of death or of damnation ?
Will he recal his tlireatenings, and repent him of
the severity of his laws, because such worms are
angry with them, or will not believe them ? Per-
haps thou mayest make a false-hearted, fearful, man-
pleasing minister, to change his strain or plainer
dealing, and become thy flatterer, or be silent : but
will God be silenced ? O no; he will one day tell
thee what thou art with another voice than this of a
a mortal and despised man, and in another manner
than preachers tell it thee. If thou canst frown the
preacher out of the pulpit, or out of his fidelity to
God and thee, yet canst thou not frown God out of
heaven. He will speak to thee more terribly than
the most terrible preacher that ever thou heardst: and
if thy pride shall rise up, and tell him that he doth
thee wrong, how quickly will thy " mouth be stop-
ped," and thou be forced to confess thy guilt ! O

365

stoop to the humbling word of grace, or God will
make thee stoop to the words and strokes of wrath !
Fear Him that will make the proudest fear, before
he hath done with them. Judged thou must be ;
by thyself, to self-abasing and conversion, or by God
to desolation and confusion : and canst thou easier
bear God's judgment than thy own ! Stoop, fool-
ish, self-deluding dust ! Stoop, sinful wretch, and
know thy misery I If thou stand it out a little
longer, an undiscerned blow may bring thee down ;
and thou shalt not see the hand that strikes thee,
till thou art humbled in the grave and hell. O how
absurd, yet pitiful a sight is it, to see poor sinners
brave it out against the humbling message of the
Lord, as if they could make good their cause against
him ! And scorn to know that they are going to
hell, till they are there ! And then will pride pre-
serve them from the knowledge of it ? It is shame-
ful folly to be proud and obstinate, where a man
knoweth beforehand that he must submit at last, and
is not able to stand it out.

2. The second intrinsical impediment to self-ac-
nuaintance, is an unreasonable tenderness of our-
selves; when an inordinate love of ease and quiet-
ness of mind doth prevail with us to hold fast all that
thus quieteth us at the present, without regard of due
provision for the time to come; in this there is a mix-
ture of unreasonableness and self-love: it is indeed
the very brutish disposition. A beast will have at
present what he loveth, though you feed him for the
slaughter ! for he hath not reason to foresee what
foUoweth. Fleshly-minded men have thus brutified
themselves, so that they judge of things by present

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feeling, and have not reason and faith to look before
them, and judfre of things by the good or hurt that
will follow in the end. It is a very terrible trouble-
some thing, for a man that is unregcnerate, unjus-
tified, and unreconciled to God, to know it; for a
man that hath any feeling left, to find himself in a
state of condemnation : this is to stir up all the ter-
rors of his soul, and cast him into perplexing fears
and disquietments of mind ; so that he cannot eat or
drink, or sleep in quietness, but the troublesome
thoughts of sin and everlasting wrath torment him;
and the inconsiderate man, that judgeth of things by
present feeling, will not endure this. As most men
hate those that speak against them, be the matter
ever so true, so they cannot endure those tlioughts
that do accuse them, nor to have a reprover so near
them, even in their own breasts; a conscience within
them, to preach to them night and day : not one
hour in a week, but wherever they go, and what-
ever they are doing; to be so near, so constant, so
precise, and so severe and terrible a preacher, as
usually a newly enlightened and awakened conscience
is : this seemeth intolerable to them ; and whatever
come of it, this preacher must be silenced, as turbu-
lent and vexatious, and one that would make them
melancholy or mad. " And this is the condemna-
tion (of these miserable souls), that light is come
into the world, and they loved darkness rather than
light, because their deeds were evil : for every one
that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." And
thus, while men are so tender of themselves, that
they will do nothing that troubleth or hurteth them

367

at the present, they venture upon all tlie miseries
that they are forewarned of.

Direct. 2. Be not unreasonably tender of a little
disturbance at the present, nor unbelievingly careless
of the misery to come. Cannot you endure to know
your sin and misery, and yet can you endure to bear
it ? Will you go to hell, for fear of knowing that
you are in the way ? Must you not know it w ith
everlasting woe and vengeance when you come thi-
ther, if, by knowing your danger, you prevent not
your coming thither ? Is it easier to bear God's
wrath for ever, than to find at present that you have
offended him .'' Sirs, the question is, \\'hethcr you
are under the condemnation of the law, or not ?
Whether you are regenerate and justified, or yet in
your sin ? If you arc justified, far be it from me to
persuade you to think that you are under condem-
nation : I leave that to Satan and the malicious
world, who arc the condemners of thase that Chii>t
doth justify. But if you are unregenerate and un-
justified, what will you do at death and judgment ?
Can you stand before God, or be saved upon any
other terms? You cannot; if God be to he be-
lieved, you cannot : and, if you know the Scriptures,
you know you cannot. And if you cannot be saved
in an unrenewed, unjustified state, is it not needful
that you know it? Will you cry for help before
you find yourselves in danger ? or strive to get out
of sin and misery, before you believe that you are iii
it? If you think that you have no other sin than
the pardoned infirmities of the godly, you will never
so value Jesus Christ, and pray and strive for such
grace as is necessary to them that have the unpar-

368

doned, reigning sins of the ungodly. If it be ne-
cessary that you be saved, it is necessary that you
value and seek salvation ; and, if so, it is necessary
that you know your need of it, and what you must
be and do, if you will obtain it. If you can prove,
that ever any was converted and saved, by any other
way, than by the coming to the knowledge of their
sin and misery, then you have some excuse for your
presumption : but if Scripture tell us of no other
way ; yea, that there is no other way, and you know
of none that ever was saved by any other, I think it
is time to fall to work, and search and try your hearts
and lives. You should rather think with your-
selves. If we can so hardly bear the forethoughts of
hell, how shall we be able, everlastingly, to bear the
torments ?

And consider, that Christ hath made the dis-
covery of your sin and misery to be now compara-
tively an easy burden, in that he hath made them
pardonable and curable. If you had not had a Sa-
viour to fly to, but must have looked on your misery
as a remediless case, it had then been terrible in-
deed ; and it had been no great mistake to have
thought it the best way to take a little ease at pre-
sent, rather than to disquiet yourselves in vain. But,
through the great mercy of God, this is not your
case ; you need not despair of pardon and salvation,
if you will but hear while it is called To-day. The
task that you are called to, is only to find out your
disease, and come and open it to the physician, sub-
mit to his advice, use his means, and he will freely
and infallibly work the cure. It is but to find out
the folly that you have been guilty of, and the dan-

369

ger that you have brought yourselves into, and come
to Christ, and, with hearty sorrow and resohition,
to give up yourselves to his grace, to cast away your
iniquities, and enter into his safe and comfortable
service. And will you lie in hell and say, ' We are
suffering here, that we might escape the trouble of
foreseeing our danger of it, or of endeavouring in time
to have prevented it !' O sirs, be warned in time,
and own not, and practise not, such egregious folly,
in a business of everlasting consequence. Believe
it, if you sin, you must know that you have sinned:
and if you are in the power of Satan it cannot long
be hid. Did you but know the difference between
discovering it now while there is hope, and here-
after when there is none, I should have no need to
persuade you to be willing to know the truth, what-
ever it should cost you.

Hind, 3. Another great impediment of the know-
ledge of ourselves, is, that self-love so blindeth men
that they can see no great evil in themselves, or any
thing that is their own. It makes them believe that
all things are as they would have them be; yea, and
better than they would have them : for he that would
not indeed be holy, is willing by himself and others
to be thought so : did not the lamentable experience
of all the world confirm it, it were incredible that
self-love could so exceedingly blind men. If charity
think no evil of another, much more will self-love
cause men to see no evil by themselves. No argu-
ment so cogent, no light so clear, no oratory so per-
suading, as can make a self-lover think himself as
bad as indeed he is, till God, by grace or terror, shall
convince him. When you are preaching the most
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370

searching sermons to convince him, self-love con-
futeth or misapplieth them ; when the marks of trial
are most plainly opened, and most closely urged,
self-love doth frustrate the preacher's greatest skill
and dilitrence. When nothincf of sense can be said
to prove the piety of the impious, and the sincerity
of the formal hypocrite, yet self-love is that wonder-
ful alchymist, that can make gold not only of the
basest metal, but of dross and dirt. No cause so
bad which it cannot justify : and no person so miser-
able but it will pronounce him happy, till God, by
grace or wrath, confute it. Self-love is the grand
deceiver of the world.

Direct. 3. Subdue this inordinate self-love, and
bring your minds to a just impartiality in judging.
Remember that self-love is only powerful at your
private bar; and it is not there that your cause must
be finally decided : it can do nothing at the bar of
God; it cannot there justify, where it is condemned
itself: God will not so much as hear it, though you
will hear none that speak against it. Self-love is
but the vicegerent of the grand usurper, that shall
be deposed, and have no show of power, at Christ's
appealing, when he will judge his enemies.

And if you would have the benefits of friendship,
discourage not plain dealing. " I know a reprover
should be wise, and love must be predominant if he
will expect success ;" but we must take heed of judg-
ing that we are hated, because we are reproved ; that
is, that a friend is not a friend, because he doth the
office of a friend. Of the two, it is fitter to say of
a reproving enemy, ' Pie dealeth with me like a
friend,' than of a reproving friend, ' He dealeth with

371

me like an enemy.' It is a happy enmity that help-
eth you to deliver you from sin and hell ; and a
cruel friendship that will let you undo your soul foe
ever, for fear of displeasing you by hindering it.

There are two sorts that deprive themselves of
the saving benefit of necessary reproof, and the most
desirable fruits of friendship : the one is tlie Hypo-
crite, that so cunningly hideth his greatest faults,
that his friend and enemy never tell him of them:
he hath the happiness of keeping his physician un-
acquainted with his disease, and, consequently, of
keeping the disease. The other is the Proud, that
can better endure to be ungodly than to be told of
it, and to live in many sins, than to be freely ad-
monished of one.

Consider, therefore, that it will prove self-hatred
in the effect, which is now called self-love : and that
it would seem but a strange kind of love from another,
to suffer you to fall into a coal-pit, for fear of telling
you that you are near it. If you love another no
better than thus, you have no reason to call yourself
his friend : and shall this be your wisest loving of
yourselves? If it be love to damn your souls for
fear of knowing your danger of damnation, the devil
loveth you. If it be friendship to keep you out of
heaven, for fear of disquieting you with the light
that should have saved you, then you have no ene-
mies in hell. The devil himself can be content to
grant you a temporal quietness and ease, in order to
your everlasting woe. Let go your hopes of heaven,
and he can let you be merry a while on earth ; while
the strong armed man keepeth his house, the things
that he possesscth are in peace. If it be not friend-

372

ship, but enmity, to trouble you with the sight of
sin and danger, in order to your deliverance, then
you have none but enemies in heaven : for God
himself doth take this course with the dearest of
his chosen. No star doth give such light as the
sun doth : no minister doth so much to make a sin-
ner know himself, as God doth. Love yourselves,
therefore, in the way that God loveth you : be im-
partially willing that God and man should help you
to be thoroughly acquainted with your state : love
not to be flattered by others, or yourselves. Vice
is never the more lovely, because it is yours: and
you know that pain is never the more easy or desir-
able to you, because it is yours. Yoiir own diseases,
losses, injuries, and miseries, seem the worst and
most grievous to you : and why should not your own
sins also be most grievous ? You love not poverty or
pain, because it is your own ; O love not sin, be-
cause it is your own [

Hind. 4. Another impediment to self-acquaint-
ance, is, that men observe not their hearts in a time
of trial, but take them always at the best, when no
great temptation puts them to it. A man that never
had an opportunity to rise in the world, perhaps doth
think he is not ambitious, and desireth not much to
be higher than he is, because the coal was never
blown. When a little affront doth ferment their
pride into disquietness and desires of revenge ; or
applause doth ferment it into self-exaltation, they
observe not then the distemper when it is up and
most observable, because the nature of sin is to
please and blind, and cheat the mind into a consent.
And when the sin seems past, and they find them-

373

selves in a seeming humility and meekness, they
judge of themselves as then they find themselves,
as thinking that distemper is past and cured, and
they are not to judge of themselves by what they
were, but what they are. And, by that rule, every
drunkard or whoremonger should judge themselves
temperate and chaste, as soon as they forbear the
act of sin. And what if poverty, age, or sickness,
hinder them from ever committing either of them
again ? For all this, the person is a drunkard or
fornicator still ; because the act is not pardoned, nor
the heart sanctified, and the habit or corrupt inclina-
tion mortified. And thus passionate persons do
judge of themselves by their milder temper, when
no temptation kindleth the flame. But little doth
many a one know what corruption is latent in his
heart, till trial shall disclose it, and draw it into
sight. " If these persons be not always sinning, they
will not take themselves for sinners : but he that
hath once sinned knowingly, in God's account con-
tinueth in the sin, till his heart be changed by true
repentance." — Augustine.

Yet, on the other hand, I would not wrong any
upright soul, by persuading them to judge of them-
selves as they are at the worst, in the hour of temp-
tation ; for so they will be mistaken as certainly,
though not as dangerously, as the other.

You may ask then, ' What is to be done in such a
difficult case .'' If we must neither judge of ourselves
as we are at the best, out of temptation, nor yet as
we are at the worst, in the hour of temptation, when
and how then shall we judge of ourselves ?'

I answer, it is one thing to know our particular

374

sins, and their degrees, and another thing to know
our state in general, whether we arc justified and
sanctified, or not. To discern what particular sin
is in us, and how apt it is to break forth into act,
we must watch all the stirrings and appearings of it,
in the time of the temptation : but to discern whe-
ther it be unmortified and have dominion, we must
observe these rules :

1. There is no man on earth that is perfectly free
from sin; and, therefore, it is no good consequence
that sin reigneth unto death, because it is not per-
fectly extinguished, or because it is sometimes com-
mitted, unless in the cases after expressed.

2. No sin that is truly mortified and repented of,
shall condemn the sinner: for pardon is promised
to the truly penitent.

3. Whatever sin the will, according to its habi-
tual incl ination, had rather leave than keep, is truly
repented of and mortified. For the will is the prin-
cipal seat of sin; and there is no more sinfulness,
than there is wilfulness.

4. There are some sins which cannot be frequently
committed in consistency with true grace, or sincere
repentance; and some which may be frequently com-
mitted in consistency with these. As where sins
are known and great, or such as are easily subject to
the power of a sanctified will, so that he that will
reject them, may, as one such sin must have actual
repentance, if actually known; so the frequent com-
mitting of such will not consist with habitual repen-
tance. Whereas those sins, that are so small as
upright persons, perhaps, may not be suflBciently ex-
cited to resistance; or such as, upon the sincere use

375

of means, are still unknown, or such as a truly sanc-
tified will may not subdue, are all of them consistent
with repentance and a justified state: and in this
sense we reject not that distinction between moral
and venial sin; that is, between sin inconsistent with
a state of spiritual life, and sin consistent with it,
and consequently pardoned. He that bad rather leave
the former sort, (the mortal sins,) will leave them;
and he that truly repents of them, will forsake them.
But for the other (consistent with life) we must say,
that a man may possibly retain them, that yet had
rather leave them, and doth truly repeat of them.

5. A sin of carnal interest (esteemed good, in
order to something which the flesh desireth; and so
loved and deliberately kept) hath more of the will,
and is more inconsistent with repentance, "than a sin
of mere passion or surprise, which is not so valued
upon the account of such an interest.

6. They that have grace enough to avoid temp-
tations to mortal or reigning sin, and consequently
that way to avoid the sin, shall not be condemned
for it, whatever a stronger temptation might have
done.

7. Where bodily diseases necessitate to an act,
or the omission of an act, the will is not to be charged
with that which it cannot overcome, notwithstanding
an unfeigned willingness. As if a man in a frenzy
or distraction should swear or curse, or blaspheme;
or one in a lethargy, or potent melancholy, cannot
read, or pray, or meditate, &c.

8. As frequent commissions of venial sins (or such
as are consistent with true grace) will not prove the
soul unsanctified ; so the once committing of a gross

376

sin by surprise, which is afterward truly repented of,
will not prove the absence of habitual repentance, or
spiritual life, so as the frequent committing of such
sins will.

So that I conclude, in order to the detection of
the sin itself, we must all take notice of ourselves as
at the worst, and see what it is that temptation can
do : but in order to the discovery of our state, and
whether our sins are pardoned or not, we must espe-
cially observe whether their eruptions are such as
will consist with true habitual repentance, and to
note what teinptations do with us. To this end,

Direct. 4. Observe then the workings and dis-
coveries of the heart, and judge of its abundance, or
habits, by your words and deeds. Note what you
were when you had opportunity to sin, when the full
cup of pleasure was held out to you, when prefer-
ment was before you, when injury or provoking
words did blow the coal: if then sin appeared, judge
not that you are free, and that none of the roots are
latent in your hearts: or if you are sure that such
dispositions are hated, repented of, and mortified, yet
you may hence observe what diseases of soul you
should chiefly strive against, to keep them under,
and prevent a new surprise or increase. It is usual
for such licentiousness, such self-seeking, such ugly
pride and passion, to break forth upon some special
temptations, which for many years together did never
appear to the person that is guilty, or to any other,
that it should keep the best in fear and self-suspicion,
and cause them to live in constant watchfulness, and
to observe the bent and motions of their souls: and
to make use afterward of such discoveries as they
have made to their cost in time of trial.

377

And it much concerneth all true Christians, to
keep in remembrance the exercise and discoveries of
grace, which formerly, upon trial, did undoubtedly
appear, and did convince them of the sincerity which
afterward they are apt again to question. Will'you
not believe that there is a sun in the firmament,
unless it always shine upon you ? It is weakness
and injurious rashness in those Christians, that, upon
every damp that seizeth on their spirits, will venture
to deny God's former mercies, and say, that they had
never special grace, because they feel it not at pre-
sent; that they never prayed in sincerity, because
some distemper at present discomposeth or over-
• whelmeth them; that their former zeal and life was
counterfeit, because they are grown more cold and
dull ; that former comforts were all but hypocritical
delusions, because they are turned now to sor-
rows: as much as to say, ' Because I am now
sick, I was never well.' O, were it not for the ten-
der compassions of our Father, and the sure perform-
ance of our Lord and Comforter, and that our peace
is more in his hand than our own, (though more in
our own than any others,) it could never be that a
poor, distempered, imperfect soul, should here have
any constancy of peace, considering the power of
self-love and partiality on one side, and of grief, and
fear, and other passions, on the other; and how
little a thing doth shake so moveable and weak a
thing, and muddy and trouble a mind so easily dis-
turbed; and how hard it is again to quiet and com-
pose a mind so troubled, and bring a grieved soul to
reason, and make passion understand the truth, and
to cause a weak afflicted soul to judge clean contrary

378

to what they feel ! All this considered, no wonder
if the peace and comfort of many Christians be yet
but little, and interrupted, and uneven. To show
us the sun at midnight, and convince ns of love while
we feel the rod; and to give us the comfortable sense
of grace, while we have the uncomfortable sense of
the greatness of our sin ; to give us the joyful hopes
of glory, in a troubled, melancholy, dejected state:
all this is a work that rcquireth the special help of the
Almighty, and exceeds the strength of feeble worms.
Let God give us ever so full discoveries of his ten-
derest love, and our own sincerity, as if a voice from
heaven had witnessed it to us, we are questioning
all if once we seem to fed the contrary, and are per- %
plexed in the tumult of our thoughts and passions,
and bewildered and lost in the errors of our own dis-
turbed minds. Though we have walked with God,
we are questioning whether indeed we ever knew
him, as soon as he seemeth to hide his face. Though
we have felt another life and spirit possess and actu-
ate us than heretofore, and found that we love the
things and persons which once we loved not, and
that we were quite fallen out with that which was
our former pleasure, and that our souls broke off
from their old delights, and hopes, and ways, and
resolvedly did engage themselves to God, and un-
feignedly delivered up themselves unto him; yet
all is forgotten, or the convincing evidence of all
forgotten, if the lively influences of heaven be but
on'ce so far withdrawn, as that our present state is
clouded and afflicted, and our former vigour and
assurance is abated. And thus unthankfully we deny
God the praise and acknowledgment of his mercies,

379

longer than we are tasting them, or they are still be-
fore us: all that he hath done for us is as nothing,
and all the love which he hath manifested to us, is
called hatred; and all the witnesses that have put
their hands to his acts of grace, are questioned, and
his very seals denied, and his earnest misinterpreted,
as long as our darkened, distempered souls, are in a
condition unfit for the apprehension of mercy, and
usually when a diseased or afflicted body doth draw
the mind into too great a participation of the affliction.
And thus, as we are disposed ourselves, so we judge
of ourselves and of all our receivings, and all God's
dealings with us. When we feel ourselves well, all
goes well with us, and we put a good interpretation
upon all things; and when we are out of order, we
complain of every thing, and take pleasure in nothing.
And thus, while the discoveries, both of sin and
grace, are at present overlooked, or afterwards for-
gotten, and almost all men judge of themselves by
present feeling, no wonder if few are well acquainted
with themselves.

But as the word and the works of God must be
taken together, if they be understood, and not a
sentence, part, or parcel, taken separated from the
rest, which must make up the sense; so also the
workings of God upon your souls must be taken al-
together, and you must read them over from the first
till now, and set altogether, and not forget the part
that went before, or else you will make no sense of
that which followeth. And I beseech all weak and
troubled Christians to remember, also, that they are
but children and scholars in the school of Christ;
and therefore, when they cannot set the several

380

parts together, let them not overvalue their inexpe-
rienced understandings, but, by the help of their
skilful, faithful teachers, do that which of themselves
they cannot do. Inquire what your former mercies
signify : open them to your guides, and tell them
how God hath dealt with you from the beginning,
and tell them how it is with you now ; and desire
them to help you to perceive how one conduceth to
the ri^ht understanding of the other. And be not

D O

of froward, but of tractable, submissive minds : and
thus your self-acquaintance may be maintained, at
least to safety, and to some degree of peace, if not
to the joys which you desire, which God reserveth
for their proper season.

I should have added more on this necessary sub-
ject, but that I have said so much of it in other
writings, especially in the " Saints' Rest," part iii.
chap. 7. and in my " Treatise of Self-denial," and
in " The Right Method for Peace of Conscience."

I must confess I have written on this subject as I
did of Self-denial, namely, with expectation that all
men should confess the truth of what I say; and yet
so few be cured by it of their self-ignorance, as that
still we must stand by, and see the world distracted
by it, the church divided, the love of brethren inter-
rupted, and the work of Satan carried on by error,
violence, and pride; and the hearts of men so
strangely stupified, as to goon incorrigibly in all this
mischief, while the cause and cure are opened before
them, and all in vain, while they confess the truth;
so that they will leave us nothing to do, but exer-
cise our compassion, by lamenting the delirium of
\ frenetic men, while we are unable to serve the

381

churcli, their brethren, or their own souls, from the
lacerations and calamitous effects of their furious
self-ignorance. But Christ that hath sent us with
the light which may be resisted, and abused, and in
part blown out, will speedily come with light irre-
sistible, and will teach the proud, the scornful, the
unmerciful, the self-conceited, the malicious, and the
violent, so effectually to know themselves, as that no
more exhortations shall be necessary for the recep-
tion of his convictions; nor will he or his servants
any more beseech men to consider and know their
sin and misery, nor be beholden to them to believe
and confess it. (See Jude 14, 15.) And is there
no remedy for a stupified, inconsiderate soul? Is
there no prevention of so terrible a self-knowledge,
as the light of judgment, and the fire of hell, will
else procure ? Yes, the remedy is certain, easy, and
at hand : " Even to know themselves till tliey are
driven to study, and seek, and know the Father, and
his Son Jesus Christ;" and yet is the salvation of
most as hopeless almost as if there were no remedy,
because no persuasion can prevail with them to use it.
Lord, what hath thus locked up the minds and hearts
of sinners against thy truth and thee ! What hath
made reasonable man so unreasonable, and a self-
loving nature so mortally to hate itself! O thou
that openest, and no man shutteth, use the key that
openeth hearts; come in with thy wisdom, and thy
love, and all this blindness and obstinacy will be
gone ! At least, commit not the safety of thy
flock to such as will not know themselves : but
" gather thy remnant, and bring them to their folds,
and let them be fruitful and increase; and setup

382

shepherds over them, which shall feed thera, and let
them fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor be lack-
ing." " Ordain a place for thera, plant them, and
let them dwell therein unmoved ; and let not the
children of wickedness waste thera any more." " As
a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he
is among his sheep that are scattered, so seek out thy
sheep, and deliver them out of all places where they
have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day."
*' Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance : feed
them also, and lift thera up for ever."

FINIS.

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